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Established 1864

Published FromVIJAYAWADA DELHI

LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR

CHANDIGARHBHUBANESWAR

RANCHIDEHRADUN

HYDERABAD

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 116*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

VIJAYAWADA, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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(IN VIJAYAWADA)

The pre-s e n tpoliti-

cal situation inAndhra Pradesh

has spawnedmany ques-

tions, the foremostbeing whether a ruler,

whose mandate is to deliverwhat the people really need,get the desired result byhounding the Oppositionrather than concentrating ongovernance?

Cornering the Oppositionby ordering a probe on the pre-vious regime may make itscadres happy, but theinevitable ripples of such anextreme exercise may land theruling party in trouble in thelonger run.

The decision to appoint aSpecial Investigation Team(SIT), headed by a DIG-rankofficer, to probe the 'misdeeds'of the previous TDP regimeled by N. Chandrababu Naidu,can very well be termed a

‘witch hunt’ considering thefact that the ten-memberinvestigation team has beengiven full powers to investigateanything it may smell fishy inthe decisions taken by theNaidu government. The movehas already generated politicalheat as the SIT has been givena blanket mandate. Also, theDIG-rank officer who headsthe SIT is someone whom theTDP had bitter experiencesearlier in Kadapa, the hometurf Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy.

The selection of this officeris believed to be a calculatedmove on part of Jagan, and thedecision naturally gives scopefor speculation on the possibleresult of the probe.

In such a politically sensitivesituation, people may viewthe findings of the SIT withsuspicion, even if they appearto be genuine. It can be expect-ed of the Opposition to claimthat the findings of the SITwere politically motivated,

especially since it has not beengiven a specific area to probe.

In all probability, the SITmay go through the corruptionallegations levelled by theYSRCP when it was in theopposition against then theprevious government during2014-19. There were countlessallegations of corruption andsome might be true. In all, theYSRCP had alleged that cor-ruption to the tune of Rs 5-6lakh-crore took place in thefive years of Naidu rule.

As the Opposition party, theYSRCP had represented theGovernment of India seekingproper investigation by centralagencies and demanded thatthe probe should be followed

by suitable action. But due tothe political proximity ofNaidu with the NDA govern-ment headed by NarendraModi, in which the TDP wasa constituent, the relentlessefforts of YSRCP yielded nodividends. Now with Naidu'spolitical fortunes at an all-timelow after the humiliating defeatin the Assembly polls last year,the proverbial shoe is on theother foot.

Jagan has seized the oppor-tunity provided by the changeof fortunes with both handsand is evidently keen to tor-ment, and possibly decimatehis bitter political rival, obvi-ously with a little help from theModi government. For the

NDA government, having theYSRCP in its corner is benefi-cial, especially at a time whenthe country is literally boilingdue to the CitizenshipAmendment Act.

It’s quite clear that Jaganbelieves that this is the idealtime to push Naidu into deep-er political waters and whatbetter way than having a “thor-ough” investigation into all thedecisions taken by the TDP

supremo as Chief Minister ofAP?

Some interesting points thatcome to mind are whether alower ranked officer is capableof summoning his superiors inadministration in a 'free andfair' manner in the name ofinvestigation? Will any suchinvestigation be by the book?

What will happen to theinvestigation done by suchlower rank officer in case thepolitical masters change? (Thealleged proximity of top brassof police department withdreaded gangster Nayeem inTelangana state is a case inpoint. No one knows the rea-soning behind such an inves-tigation, and there is no clar-ity on the outcome of theprobe, even after the TS HomeMinister read out the report inthe state Legislature).

The fate of such questionswould probably be the same asthat of the Nayeem case inwhich the issue of hobnobbingnature of police top brass with

the gangster was notaddressed, if one takes intoaccount public mood.

In 1989, a lorry loaded witharrack sachets was seized bypolice during electioneering inChittoor district of undividedAndhra Pradesh. A case wasregistered against Congressparty cadres and certain pro-visions of CrPC slapped forillegally transporting arracksachets with a view to influ-ence voters.

The Congress party stormedto power defeating NTR. Soonafter, the inquiry report on the“arrack seizure” was madepublic. The report said that thelorry contained water packetsbeing taken by Congress work-ers to quench the thirst of vot-ers during polling!

Interestingly this wasrevealed by a former chiefminister of AP (not at thatpoint of time ) in a casualchitchat with select journalists.Needless to say, this writer wasamong the scribes present.

One can’t rule out that theSIT’s report will be fully biasedand against the TDP, consid-ering that the YSRCP govern-ment is keen on 'relooking atevery decision’, not only at alle-gations of corruption. Undersuch circumstances, those fac-ing corruption charges mayfind a room to claim inno-cence, saying that the YSRCPhas painted everyone with thesame brush.

Ultimately, such a scenariomay boomerang on theYSRCP by the time 2024 pollscome, since those accused ofcorruption may find the pub-lic sympathetic.

Compared to a blanketprobe, the purpose of theYSRCP government in fixingthe opposition can be servedeven with a single genuine caseof corruption. It may be moreprudent of the YSRCP to gofor selective cases of corrup-tion rather than a blanketinvestigation into the entirerule of the TDP.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

It can be expected of the Opposition toclaim that the findings of the SIT werepolitically motivated, especially since ithas not been given a specific area toprobe but has a ‘blanket mandate’.

Blanket probe may boomerang on Jagan

PINPOINT

AU competes for Tech Innovation Hub PNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

Andhra University has chalkedout a model to compete withother top varsities in a bid to geta Technology Innovation Hubunder the National Mission onInterdisciplinary Cyber PhysicalSystems (NM-ICPS). Accordingto the norms laid down by theScience and EngineeringResearch Board (SERB), insti-tutes ranked below 50 in theNational Institutional RankingFramework (NIRF) and with areputed academic and R&Dscope could apply for the techhub.

The varsity has sent proposalsto the tune of Rs 115 crore for thehub under the theme of'Technologies for Internet ofThings and Everything', whichalso involves ArtificialIntelligence and MachineLearning.

The varsity also submitteddata and details pertaining to itsindustry partners, internationalcollaborations, start-up ecosys-tem, R&D infrastructure amongothers to the Science andEngineering Research Board(SERB) as part of the applicationprocess of the Hub.

While the varsity standing at29th place in the institutions cat-egory in the NIRF-2019 ranking,it bagged 16th rank among all theIndian universities. On the otherhand, the varsity has sent croresof rupees of research proposals tothe Department of Science and

Technology, Indian Council ofSocial Science Research, NavalResearch Board and other bod-ies overseeing research activities.

According to AndhraUniversity officials, the varsity'snotification for recruitment of 40post-doctoral fellows has drawnnearly 350 applications. "Officialsfrom the University GrantsCommission (UGC) and the

varsity will jointly conduct theinterviews, which will be video-recorded this March.

The varsity has received Rs 100crore under the RUSA scheme.Apart from other developmentactivities, the varsity has proposedto take 100 post-doctoral fellows(PDF) and 200-300 Ph D stu-dents with a focus on improvingresearch.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP president NChandrababu Naidu is tryingto create uncertainty for hisselfish gains in the State,alleged YSRCP MLA KakaniGovardhan Reddy. Addressinga press conference here onTuesday, he said that decen-tralised developmentis the only solu-tion for equaldis t r ibu-tion ofopportu-n i t i e sand bal-a n c e dgrowth.

He saidC h i e fMinister YSJaganmohan Reddyhas brought decentralisation ofgovernance keeping the futuregenerations in mind. "Thethree-capital formula is todevelop all three regions of theState equally unlike Naidupolicy, which is concentratingonly on Amaravati."

Continuing his tiradeagainst Naidu, he lambastedhim for engineering attacks onYSRP MPs and MLAs in theguise of farmers.

Naidu has spent Rs 5,000crore in the past five years forAmaravati and all he builtwas three temporary buildings."Through insider trading,

Naidu and his close asso-ciates grabbed lands fromfarmers. The self-financingmodel is only to cheat the poorand create wealth for hiscoterie and by doing real estatebusiness," he lamented.

He is not bothered for thedevelopment of other regions,all that matters for the TDPleader is Amaravati alone tosafeguard his ill-gotten prop-erties.

Ridiculing Naidu's PrajaChaitanya Yatra in Kuppam,which was started fromAmaravati, he wondered whyhe is conducting a yatra inKuppam.

l The varsity alsosubmitted data and details

pertaining to itsindustry partners,

internationalcollaborations, start-up ecosystem, R&D

infrastructure amongothers to the Science

and EngineeringResearch Board as part ofthe application process of

the Hub

l The varsity has sentproposals to the

tune of Rs 115 cr forthe hub underthe theme of'Technologiesfor Internet ofThings and

Everything',which also involvesArtificial Intelligence andMachine Learning.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TTD Additional ExecutiveOfficer AV Dharma Reddy saidon Tuesday that the TTD ismaking all out efforts for pro-tection and propagation ofVedas as part of its commit-ment for promotion of sanatanaHindu dharma.

Addressing the 28th AkhilaBharat Veda Shastra AgamaVidwat Sadassu at the SV VedaVignana Peetham, Dharmagiri,the additional executive officersaid as part of above agenda theTTD has set up DharmagiriInstitute and several other VedaPathasalas in Telugu Statesbesides the Veda University inTirupati. Similarly, the TTD is

providing financial assistance toVeda parayanadars and elder-ly Vedic pandits.

He said it is bounded duty toprotect the Vedas as part of cul-

ture and traditions for benefitof future generations.

He said the TTD has madeelaborate arrangements for 727students and 104 Vedic expo-

nents- cum-invigilators forVedic exams, which will be con-ducted, as part of the sadassufrom February 25 to March 1.The six-day all India sadassu is

being conducted at a cost of Rs2 crore and the TTD will pre-sent 10 gms of gold and 10 gmssilver dollars to first and secondrankers besides certificates,cash and shawls to pandits inthe Veda exams.

Veda pathana was a favouriteof Lord Venkateswara andstudy of Vedas in the land ofAdi Varaha was a blessing forVedic students of Dharmagiri,said Vidya Shankar SaraswatiSwami, Pontiff of VidyaNarasimha ashram, Nerur nearSrirangam in Tamil Nadu.

Delivering the keynoteaddress at the sadassu, thepontiff lauded efforts of TTD inpromotion of Vedic study andsaid Vedic studies lasted forev-

er in comparison to generalstudies. He exhorted studentsnot to be scared of examina-tions, which only furtherembellished their knowledgebase and future.

Acharya Rajagopalan,Secretary of TTD's HDPP,highlighted various pro-grammes launched by the TTDfor Vedic study promotion likeVeda parayanam, KumarAdhyapaka scheme, AhitagnulaParirakshna Pathakam andVruddha Agama PanditulaPathakam, which finances theelderly priests.

The TTD has recently decid-ed to enhance the financialassistance to Veda Pathasalasacross the country.

AKHILA BHARAT VEDA SHASTRA AGAMA VIDWAT SADASSU BEGINS

TTD committed to propagation of Vedas: AEO

TTD Additional Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy addresses the 28th Akhila Bharat Veda Shastra Agama Vidwat Sadassuat SV Veda Vignana Peetham, Dharmagiri, in Tirupati on Tuesday

Trainee IAS officers visit VPTPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

PL Haranadh, IRTS, DeputyChairman, VisakhapatnamPort Trust, welcomed thetrainee IAS officers to theVisakhapatnam Port Trust aspart of their study tour onTuesday.

Briefing trainee IAS officers,the deputy chairman, made apresentation on the availableinfrastructure facilities, cargohandling capacity, modernisa-

tion and mechanisation, cov-ered storage facilities, solarpower, STP water treatment forindustrial purpose, investmentpotential and zone of opportu-nities in exploring importsand export improvements inthe Visakhapatnam port.

The trainee IAS officersraised certain questions regard-ing port operations for whichthe deputy chairman hasanswered their questions. Themeeting has been attended by

PL Haranadh, IRTS, Deputy Chairman, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, interacts withtrainee IAS officers, who called on him, during their visit to the trust inVisakhapatnam on Tuesday

Workshop for bankcustomers to sensitiseon digital fraudsPNSn VISAKHAPATNAM

With the rise in digital payment,the number of online frauds isalso increasing in Tier-II andTier-III cities. As the ReserveBank of India (RBI) has issuedguidelines, banks have strength-ened their critical cyber securi-ty infrastructure.

To further comply with thedirections, some of these bankshave taken extra precaution toalert the account holders usingonline transactions. HDFCBank will organise SecureBanking 2.0 programme to cre-ate awareness among generalpublic about the emerging cyberfrauds.

Both customers and non-customers will be invited toattend a series of workshopsconducted at all its branches inthe city soon. The bank willeducate them on 12 emergingonline, electronic and digitalbanking frauds to make themsecure bankers.

The programme will coverchanging payments landscapeand evolving bank frauds. Whileexplaining the modus operandiof new and emerging frauds,these workshops also alert onhow the bank tracks suspicioustransactions.

In addition to the branches,various other channels like ATMscreens, mobile banking app andthe bank website will be used tospread awareness about securebanking, malware as mobile

apps, fake job portal and debitcard pin frauds. HDFC BankAndhra Pradesh and Telanganazonal head RVG Kulkarni said,"With the advances in technol-ogy, customers need to be edu-cated on the new and emergingmodus operandi of fraudsters.An alert and well-informed cus-tomer is less likely to fall prey tocyber frauds."

"Through this initiative, wehope to create greater awarenessof safe banking practices amongpeople," he said urging theInternet banking users not toshare PIN, OTP, passwords andbank details with anyone.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP MLA KotamreddySridhar Reddy termedOpposition Leader NChanadrababu Naidu as a fad-ing and failure politician, whois damaging the brand imageof Andhra Pradesh by spread-ing canards against the Stategovernment.

He reminded that he hasproved time and again that heis against BCs by exploring

legal options to stall the localbody elections in theState.

He said that theTDP is unable tofind candidatesto contest in thelocal body polls,hence, he is cre-ating legal hur-dles so that elec-tions will be post-poned.

"Why Naidu is afraid of SIT

investigation, if he hasn'tindulged in corruption, he

questioned? He pre-dicted that Naidu's

Bus Yatra wouldbecome a dampsquib as peoplewon't welcomehim, as they know

what Naidu hasdone for them. The

TDP chief was pro-moting himself based on

past laurels, he pointed out.

‘Naidu damaging AP's brand image’

l HDFC Bank will organiseSecure Banking 2.0programme to createawareness among generalpublic about the emergingcyber frauds

l The bank will educatethem on 12 emergingonline, electronic anddigital banking frauds tomake them secure bankers

Kakani ridicules Naidufor launching PrajaChaitanya Yatra

l Naidu has spent Rs5,000 crore in the pastfive years for Amaravatiand all he built wasthree temporarybuildings, pointed outYSRCP MLA KakaniGovardhan Reddy

l "Through insidertrading, Naidu and

his closeassociatesgrabbed landsfrom farmers,"he lamented

National SC,ST panel chiefstresses onuplift of poorPNS n VIJAYAWADA

National SC, STCommission chairman KRamulu on Tuesday

said that the Central andState governments have beenimplementing various wel-fare for the uplift of thepoor SC and STs and officialsconcerned should see thatschemes reach the beneficia-ries.

Ramulu took part in areview meeting convened todiscuss schemes beingimplemented for the welfareof the poor SC and ST com-munities.

Speaking on the occasion,he said that applicationsreceived by officials of thevarious departments on var-ious welfare and develop-ment schemes should beexpedited as soon as possi-ble in order to render justiceto the needy.

He appealed to officialsconcerned to strive for thedevelopment of the poor SCand STs.

Collector MD Imtiaz,Joint Collector KMadhavilatha, VijayawadaMunicipal CorporationCommissioner V PrasannaVenkatesh, PoliceCommissioner Ch DwarakaTirumala Rao, DistrictSuperintendent of PoliceRavindra Babu and districtofficials were present.

VMC officialstold to expeditework onJNNURM houses PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Vijayawada MunicipalCommissioner V PrasannaVenkatesh on Tuesday con-ducted a review meeting onthe progress of G+3 housingworks being constructedunder the Jawaharlal NehruNational Urban RenewalMission (JNNURM) scheme.He instructed officials to takemeasures to complete theconstruction works by Marchsecond week.

The Commissionerenquired with officials con-cerned on the progress ofG+3 housing constructionworks at Singhnagar,Rajarajeswaripeta, Kabelaand Jakkampudi and gave afew suggestions to completethe works at a brisk pace.

On the occasion, officialsinformed the Commissionerthat 1,920 units work atSinghnagar, 192 atRajarajeswaripeta, 384 atKabela and 640 atJakkampudi are underprogress.

The Commissionerinstructed officials and con-tractors to provide facilitieson the premises and takemeasures to complete thework by second week ofMarch.

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8RBI MPC MAY CONSIDER COVID

19 IMPACT ON INDIAN FIRMS

ANALYSIS 7INDIA MUST

REMAIN ALERT

SPORTS 11DON’T THINK BEING CAUTIOUS

WILL HELD US: KOHLI

VIJAYAWADA, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

Established 1864

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 116*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Day-2: Ivankawears ‘sher-wani’ designedby Anita Dongre

Adani mulls bidding for Air India

8

Blanketprobe mayboomerangon Jagan

2

5

{Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

US Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democratic party's frontrunner for theUS presidential elections, on Tuesday said that the US should

partner India to fight climate change instead of selling billions of dollars'worth of weapons as announced by President Donald Trump on his firstofficial visit. "Instead of selling $3 billion in weapons toenrich Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed, the UnitedStates should be partnering with India to fight climatechange. We can work together to cut air pollution,create good renewable energy jobs, and saveour planet," Mr Sanders tweeted.

WHY WEAPONS, ASKS BERNIE SANDERS,NEEDLES TRUMP ON DEAL WITH INDIA

WARREN BUFFET FINALLY GIVESUP FLIP PHONE FOR IPHONE 11Warren Buffet, the fourth-richest person in the world, has in 2020

given up on his old Samsung flip phone to opt for the iPhone 11,the 89-year-old billionaire revealed in an interview with CNBC. Whiletalking about smartphones and how important of a consumerproduct they have become, the CEO of BerkshireHathaway, which owns 5.6 percent of Apple, told CNBCthat he has parted ways with his Samsung SCH-U320flip phone, which he was last seen using till 2019.Buffet, despite the switch, said that he is onlyusing his smartphone for basic calling.

KOBE BRYANT'S WIFE FILES SUITAGAINST HELICOPTER COMPANYVanessa Bryant, wife of late basketball player Kobe Bryant has filed a

lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters for the January crash thatkilled her husband and daughter. She alleged that the pilot failed in thesafe operation of the aircraft. Her attorneys filed a 72-page wrongfuldeath lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, reported E!News. In the lawsuit, the pilot was accused of failing toproperly monitor and assess the weather prior totakeoff, failing to obtain proper weather data prior tothe subject flight, failing to abort the flight when heknew of the cloudy conditions, and other failures.

The man who opened fire on Monday during the clashes that tookplace in northeast Delhi place after protests related to CAA took a

violent turn has been identified. Seven people, including a cop, werekilled and nearly 100 were injured in Monday's unprecedented violencein multiple areas in northeast Delhi. In a video from Jaffrabad area, theman in red shirt, holding a gun, was seenconfronting an unarmed Delhi Policeofficer, intimidating him and forcing himto back away with his hands raisedbefore firing repeatedly into the air.

MAN AIMING GUN AT UNARMEDDELHI COP IN CHILLING VIDEO HELD

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated February 25, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Magha & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Tritiya 04:11 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Uttara Bhadrapada: 10:08 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:29 pm - 01:56 pm Yamagandam: 08:07 am – 09:34 am

Varjyam: NIL

Gulika: 11:01 am - 12:29 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 04:44 pm - 06:32 pm Abhijit Muhurtham: NIL

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Clear with periodic cloudsTemp: 33/22Humidity: 66%Sunrise: 06.36Sunset: 06.21

13 dead, 186 injured in Delhi violencePNS n NEW DELHI

The violence that has rockedDelhi over the past three dayshas claimed the lives of 13 per-son, while leaving an estimat-ed 186 people injured. The violence also led to thepostponement of CBSE boardexams to be held in affectedareas on Wednesday.

ACP Mandeep SinghRandhawa claimed that the sit-uation is under control inJaffrabad, Gokulpuri, Maujpurareas as the police and govern-ment are alert and security hasbeen beefed up in the areas.

He said that of 186 injured,56 are policemen and condi-tion of DCP Amit Sharma andGokulpuri ACP, who are undertreatment, is critical.

He also denied reports thatsaid that the Delhi Police don'thave enough police personnelto tackle the situation.

He said that as of now 11FIRs have been registered inthis regard and several arrestshave been made.

Additional police and para-military forces have been dep-loyed while senior officials aremonitoring the situation.

SITUATION OUT OF CONTROL,SECURITY FORCES HELPLESSNEW DELHI: After the deathof 'innocent' Delhi Police HeadConstable Ratan Lal, thesenior officers have nowswung into action. But onSaturday and Sunday, whenthe conspiracy was beinghatched in the most sensitivearea of northeast Delhi, thesesame officers were enjoyingtheir weekend.

After the day-long violenceand five deaths, which includ-ed the Head Constable, onMonday, the Home Ministercalled a meeting at night.

Thereafter, the senior policeofficials tried to lead from thefront on Tuesday morning.

Delhi Police CommissionerAmulya Patnaik visited theviolence affected areas late onMonday night.

On Tuesday morning, seniorofficers including SpecialCommissioner of Police SatishGolcha, Joint CommissionerAlok Kumar and the DCPs ofall the districts deployed theirforces in the violence hit areasto control the situation.

Travel abroad? Make will, be ready for quarantineMedical body issues updated advisory for those wishing to travel in times of coronavirus PNS n NEW DELHI

In view of deaths caused bynovel coronavirus (COVID-19), which has taken over2,600 lives in China, theConfederation of MedicalAssociations in Asia andOceania (CMAAO) issued anupdated advisory for travelling.

The coronavirus death toll inmainland China has increasedto 2,663 with 77,658 confirmedcases, health authorities said onTuesday.

According to K.K. Aggarwal,

President CMAAO, "if you aretravelling abroad, keep thepossibility of being quarantinedfor 14 days in any country."

Travel advisory is dividedinto four levels: Level 1 on allcountries — Exercise normalstandard hygiene precautions,Level 2 in all affected countries—Exercise a high degree of cau-tion, Level 3 all countries withsecondary cases —Reconsideryour need to travel and Level 4in affected parts of China andKorea — Do not travel.

"Carry at least 20 days of

extra essential medicines stock.Always keep the passport, keptin a plastic pouch, in a safefront pocket, with you in caseif you want to leave the coun-try," Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal added that alwayscarry authentic medical pre-scription with you with gener-ic names of the drugs, andcarry dry fruits as well.

He also suggested thatalways book a refundable airticket even if they are 10 percent costlier.

CAT suspends IRS officerKishore’s suspension

AP ropes in PV Sindhuin anti-corruption fight PNS n VIJAYAWADA

As part of its crusade againstcorruption, the AndhraPradesh government hasreleased a promo with WorldB a d m i n t o nChampion PVSindhu as thebrand ambas-sador.

"Corruption-free AndhraPradesh is ourC h i e fM i n i s t e r ' svision. If any-

body seeks bribe or indulges ingraft, please call toll-free num-ber 144000," Sindhu says inthe promo released by ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy here on Tuesday.

While releasing the pro-motional video, the ChiefMinister said, "Whether it issmall work or real-time insur-

ance, only graft seems to beworking. Finally, one

has to bribe even toget a toilet sanc-tioned. Corruptionshould be rootedout completely."

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a huge relief to seniorIndian Revenue ServicesOfficer Jasti Krishna Kishore,the Central AdministrativeTribunal (CAT) on Tuesdaystayed orders issued by theYSRCP government inAndhra Pradesh suspendinghim.

The tribunal also orderedthat Krishna Kishore beallowed to go back to theCentral services.

However, it said the cases ofcorruption and irregularitiesfiled by the YSRCP govern-ment against the IRS officerwould stay and the govern-ment could go ahead with thecases as per the law.

The YSRCP governmenthad in December suspendedKrishna Kishore on charges ofcorruption and misappropri-ation of funds during histenure as the chief executive

officer of the AP EconomicDevelopment Board (APEDB)in the previous TDP govern-ment.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh govern-ment has decided to allot landin APCRDA limits to the land-less people living in the limitsof Vijayawada MunicipalCorporation, TadepalliMunicipality, MangalagiriMunicipality and select grampanchayats of Tadepalli,Duggirala, Mangalagiri andPedakakani mandals.

A government order to thiseffect was issued on Tuesday.

J Syamala Rao, Secretary tothe Government of AP issuedorders to the APCRDACommissioner to provide landfor the allotment of 25 lakhhouse sites / housing unitsunder 'Pedalandariki Illu'under the YSRCP govern-ment's flagship Navaratnaluscheme.

The GO comes in the back-

drop of APCRDA Commiss-ioner informing the govern-ment that the Collectors ofKrishna and Guntur districtshad submitted a request to theAPCRDA for allotment ofidentified lands to an extentof 1,251.51 acres in the vil-lages of Nowluru,Krishnayapalem, Nidamarru,Inavolu, Kuragallu and

Mandadam for allotment ofhouse sites to EconomicallyWeaker Sections under'Pedalakandariki Illu'.

The APCRDA Commissi-oner said that five per cent oftotal area pooled under theLand Pooling Scheme may beallotted for providing afford-able housing for the poor.

YSRCP, TRS to sweepRS polls in AP, TSPNS n HYDERABAD

The Election Commission ofIndia on Tuesday announcedthe schedule for biennial elec-tions to the Rajya Sabha for theseats that will fall vacant inApril.

In all, elections will be heldfor 55 Rajya Sabha seats in 17states. From Andhra Pradesh,four seats will fall vacant andin Telangana, elections will beheld for two seats.

The notification for theRajya Sabha elections will beissued on March 6. The lastdate for filing of nominationsis March 13. Polling, if need-ed, will be held on March 26.

However, the chances ofholding polling in TS and APare nil as Opposition parties inboth the states lack the requ-ired numbers to even fieldcandidates. Both the TRS inTelangana and the YSRCP inAP enjoy brute majority in the

Legislative Assembly.While TRS has 103 MLAs

in the 119-member TS Asse-mbly besides the support ofseven MIM MLAs, YSRCP has151 MLAs in 175-memberAP Assembly.

Generally, the chances ofconducting polling for the RSseats are low, as the number ofMLAs decide the number ofRS seats their party can get.

I-T SLEUTHS RAID CORPORATE HOSPITAL PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Income-Tax sleuths on Tue-sday conducted a raid on a co-rporate hospital inVijayawada.

I-T officials landed on thepremises of the Vijaya SuperSpecialty Hospital in

Vijayawada at around 10 amand checked files pertaining toYSR Aarogyasri scheme thor-oughly. According to sources,the I-T officials noticed irreg-ularities in paying of IncomeTax and filing of returns.

According to sources, the I-T sleuths noticed discrepan-

cies in the revenue to the hos-pital and the tax paid.However this could not beconfirmed as there has beenno official statement made.

I-T raids will be conductedon corporate and private hos-pitals who have not filed adv-ance returns, sources said.

Krishna Kishore

n Oppn lack numbers in Assemblyto even field candidates

n Polls to be held for two seats inTS, four in AP

n Allowed him to go back to thecentral services

n Corruption cases filed againsthim by the AP government tostay

DODGING THE ISSUE

Don't want to say anythingon CAA, up to India: TrumpPM Modi wants people to have religious freedom, says US PresidentPNS n NEW DELHI

US President Donald Trumpsaid on Tuesday that issuesinvolving the Citizenship(Amendment) Act are up toIndia and asserted that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wantspeople to have religious free-dom.

Trump, who held compre-hensive talks with Modi on thesecond and the last day of hisvisit, said these were great andfantastic two days.

"I'm gonna be not at all con-troversial because...I don't wantto blow the two days plus twodays of travel on one answer,one little answer, like Johnwill ask me one simple ques-tion and you will blow it outand that will be the end of thetrip. You wont even talk aboutthe trip. So I will be very con-servative in my answers if youdon't mind," Trump said at apress conference.

Describing the Kashmirissue as a "big problem"between India and Pakistan, hesaid it is "a thorn in a lot ofpeople's sides" and reiteratedhis offer to mediate betweenthe two countries to ease thetension.

"If anything I can do tomediate, I will do," he said,

adding that Pakistan figured inhis talks with Modi.

"I have good equation withPakistan PM Imran Khan.They are working to controlcross-border terrorism," hesaid.

He said he discussed theissue of religious freedom atlength with Modi during hiscomprehensive talks and thatthe Indian leader wants peopleto have this freedom.

"We discussed it. PrimeMinister Modi said they workvery closely with Muslims,"Trump replied when asked ifraised the allegations of dis-crimination against Muslims inIndia.

Trump described Modi as a

"terrific" leader and India as a"tremendous country".

"We did talk about religiousfreedom. Prime Minister Modiwants people to have religiousfreedom in India...If you lookback India has worked hard forreligious freedom," Trump said.

To a question about India'snew citizenship law, he said, "Idon't want to say anything onCAA. It is up to India. I hopeit will take the right decisionfor its people."

Asked if he discussed theincidents of violence takingplace during his visit here, hesaid that he didn't discussindividual attacks and "that isup to India".

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao greets US President Donald Trumpat the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Trump gets intoheated exchangewith CNN journo NEW DELHI: A heated exc-hange took place between theUS president and CNN jour-nalist Jim Acosta at a press con-ference here on Tuesday afterDonald Trump raised ques-tions over the integrity of theTV network.

After Acosta asked Trump ifhe would pledge to reject anyforeign interference in theupcoming presidential pollsand also questioned his moveto appoint a new actingDirector of National Intelli-gence who apparently doesnot have any intelligence expe-rience, the US president said hedoes not want any help fromany country and hasn't beengiven help from any country.

Trump also spoke of an 'ap-ology' CNN reportedly madefor reporting false information.

Acosta shot back,"MrPresident, I think that ourrecord on delivering the truthis a lot better than yours some-times, if you don't mind mestating."

44

4

44

4

4

PINPOINT

4

Landless poor to get part ofland pooled for Amaravati

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 26, 2020 vijayawada 04

Woman RTC conductor assaulted CHITTOOR: One of thepassengers of an APSRTC busattacked a woman conductor onTuesday and tore her uniforminflicting some minor injuries onher for fault of asking him to buya ticket to his destination. Theincident took place while theRTC bus belonging toMadanapalle was on its wayfrom Gurramkonda to Tarikonda.The attacker was identified asSiva Reddy, who refused to buya ticket. Angered at being askedto buy a ticket for himself, avisibly angered and shaking SivaReddy resorted to launching anattack on her. He did not showany signs of let up in spite fellowtravellers trying to rein in. Hebehaved high handedly with thewoman giving scant respect forher. At last, he was turned in tothe police by fellow travellersthrashing him. The conductorwas treated for minor injuriesshe received in the attack.Meanwhile, RTC employees'unions were agog following anattack on the conductor by oneof the travellers. They put forthdemand with the authorities totake disciplinary action againstthe guilty.

Bars, restaurantsraided for illegallyselling liquor bottles VISAKHAPATNAM: Officials ofexcise department raided five barand restaurants in Vizag forselling liquor bottles that onlymeant for the government-runwine shops. The price of theliquor battles available in thegovernment-run liquor outletsare cheaper than the ones soldin bars. Hence, the bars arebuying from the governmentoutlets and selling it illegally toget extra margin. Acting on a tip-off, about the illegal selling ofliquor bottles, excise officialsraided bars and restaurants inthe city and Gajuwaka. Officialssealed the three bars and issuednotices to the management.After the new liquor policy, thegovernment has increased liquorprices in bars. Accordingly, thebar managements have alsoincreased the prices. There is abig difference in the bar pricesand government-run wineshops. As the government-runwine shops are closing sharp at8 pm, as per instruction, boozersfor liquor are rushing to bars,which remain open till 11 pm.With this, some of the barmanagements are takingadvantage of it. DeputyCommissioner of Excise TSrinivasa Rao confirmed thedevelopment and said the barsshould not sell the bottles meantfor government outlets.

CAPSULE

Vanita: CCTVs at Anganwadiswill help improve supervisionPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Minister for Woman and ChildWelfare Taneti Vanita directedofficials to install CCTVs at allAnganwadi centres in the Statefor better supervision of theunits. Addressing officials ofthe department of northCoastal districts of Srikakulam,Vizianagaram andVisakhapatnam here onTuesday, the minister said inorder to improve the nutrition-al levels of pregnant women,mothers and babies, the gov-ernment has launched'Amruta Hastam','Balamrutham' and otherschemes.

"But due to slackness,schemes could not be imple-mented properly. In order toimprove the services and keeptabs on staff," she said it wassuggested to install the CCTVsystem at all the centres. Shefurther stated that surprisechecks should be conducted

regu-larly at all the

centres. "Due to efforts ofemployees at all levels, infantmortality rate due to anaemiahave been reduced remarkably,''the minister said. She further

stated stringent action shouldbe taken against corrupt offi-cials and staff while rewardswill be given to the hard work-ing and efficient workers.

Paykaraopeta MLA GollaBabu Rao said Anganwadi cen-tres have become a steppingstone for children they arebeing admitted to regularschools. The department alsocomprises largest number ofemployees and women werealso creating awareness ongender discrimination.

State fine-tunes plans to set up YSR Village ClinicsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy is keen on establishingthe YSR Village Clinics in vil-lages across the state from thenext financial year onwardsand is likely to make a statementto this effect in the 2020-21Budget.

The clinics will belocated in villages wherethere is a village secre-tariat.

Inspired by theMohalla Clinics of theAam Aadmi Party thatrecently rode to power inDelhi with an overwhelmingmajority, the YSRCP govern-ment is working out the modal-ities of implementing a similarscheme in Andhra Pradesh.

However, making availableprimary healthcare at thedoorstep of the villagers is notan easy task. The AAP intro-

duced oneMohalla Clinic in

each of 70 Assembly con-stituencies in Delhi; the ratio isalso based on the population ofthe area. However, AndhraPradesh is quite different fromDelhi, a city-state, and the gov-ernment here may tweak thescheme to suit the require-

ments in the state. It may be recalled that

Jaganmohan Reddy had goneon record while launchingJagananna Vidya Deevenascheme in Vizianagaram districtto launch YSR Village clinicssoon.

According to those in theknow, the proposed clinics will

have a BSc Nursing graduateand an ANM who would beselected from villages. The con-dition is that they should stayput in villages making them-selves available round the clock.

The government is also look-ing into the possibility of provid-ing them residential quarters invillages, the sources said.

l Inspired by theMohalla Clinics of theAam Aadmi Party thatrecently rode to powerin Delhi with anoverwhelming majority,the YSRCP governmentis working out themodalities ofimplementing a similarscheme in AndhraPradesh

l "Due to efforts ofemployees at all levels,

infant mortality rate due toanaemia have been reduced

remarkably,'' Minister forWoman and Child Welfare

Taneti Vanitasaid

l She further statedstringent actionshould be takenagainst corruptofficials and staffwhile rewards will begiven to the hardworking and efficientworkers.

GOING GLOBAL

WB keen to help Andhra govt in edu, health sectorsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The World Bank team heapedpraises on Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy for his ini-tiatives in the education, healthand agriculture sectors. Theteam called on him at his campoffice here on Tuesday.

The State would make rapidstrides in development, if itinvests more in humanresources, the World Bank teamled by Regional Director ofSouth Asia Human ResourcesBranch of World Bank SherbernBenz said.

The World Bank team toldthe Chief Minister that it is keenon helping the State governmentliberally in education, healthand social security. The teammade it clear that it would getan idea on the fields where itwould be helpful to the govern-ment by spending the comingfour months with officials to getto know things in the right per-spective.

The World Bank team was allpraise for the Chief Minister forinitiatives he has taken in edu-cation, health and agriculturesectors after understanding thepulse of people at the grassrootslevel through his 3,648 kmpadayatra in the State. Theteam felt that it was a step in theright direction to take up e-Governance through Ward andVillage Secretariats by keeping

data available from the village-level.

The Chief Minister explainedabout the revolutionary deci-sions taken up by the State gov-ernment in decentralised gov-ernance and added that registra-tion of lands would be possibleat the Ward and VillageSecretariats in three years andadded that efforts were beingmade to make all schools in theState Internet-enabled for mak-ing digitalised learning a reali-ty.

The Chief Minister said theintroduction of English medi-um from the primary school

level, Rythu Bharosa Centres forfarmers, YSR Village Clinics andhealth sub-centres would go along way in changing the ambi-ence of villages.

He said the introduction ofEnglish medium would enablethe students to face the presentcompetitive world. He explainedabout the Nadu-Nedu initiativen changing the outlook of theeducation sector. He also spokeabout the strides being made bythe State in the health sectorthrough Aarogyasri programmeto cover all ailments and makehealthcare available within thereach of the common man.

TAKING STOCK

Administration gears up to ensure smooth conduct of SSC exams PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Officials should work withcoordination and makearrangements for the peacefuland smooth conduct of ClassX exams, which will com-mence from March 23 and endon April 8, said Collector MdImtiaz.

Addressing a review meet-ing here on Tuesday, he saidthat 57,652 candidates willappear for the Board examina-tion at 279 exam centres andexam will begin at 9.30 am andend at 12.15 pm. About 57,652candidates from 1,006 highschools will appear for Class X

examination. As many as56,800 regular candidates and852 private candidates willappear for the examination,275 exam centres are allocat-

ed for regular and four examcentres for private candidatesin Krishna district.

He said for the smooth andpeaceful conduct of examina-

tions, as many as 3,150,22rout officers, 14 chief superin-tendents, 279 department offi-cers and 279 organisers are

being appointed. He pointedout that 12 department officerswill monitor 12 examinationscentres with more than 300

candidates. The Collectorinstructed the electricitydepartment officials to provideuninterrupted power supplyduring the examination time.A first-aid centre will be set upat all the examination centresand told DMHO officials toprovide the same. He furtherstated that security should bearranged for exam material,which will be handed over onMarch 19, 20, 25 and 26.Section 144 will be imposed atall the examination centres,Xerox centres and Internetcentres near the examinationcentres should remain closedduring the examination.

National SC, STCorporationchairman atDurga templePNS n VIJAYAWADA

National SC, ST Corporationchairman K Ramulu visited SriDurga Malleswara SwamivarlaDevastanam here on Tuesday.The chairman visited the tem-ple and offered puja toGoddess Kanakadurga.Temple Executive Officer MVSuresh Babu welcomed himwith temple honours.Devasthanam Vedic priestsgave Veda aashirvachanam tothe chairman on the occasion.Later, the Executive officeroffered prasadam, portrait ofGoddess to K Ramulu.

Krishna District Collector Md Imitiaz speaks at a review meeting convened onconduct of SCC exams with officials in Vijayawada on Tuesday

exam centreswere set up

in Krishnadistrict

57,652candidates

from 1,006high schools

will appearfor

l Class Xexamination in

March 2020

invigilatorshave beendeployedl 56,800

regular and 852private candidates

will appear forexams

279 3,150

Continued from front Page

He also said that Indiais buying a lot of militaryhardware from the US.

On the issue of trade, hesaid India is probably thenation with highest tariffsand noted that the HarleyDavidson has to pay "hugeamount of tariff ".

The US has to be treat-ed fairly, he added.

He also talked abouthis country's peace dealwith the Taliban withModi, and said that Indiawill like to see it happen.

To a question aboutreports of Russia trying toinfluence the US presiden-tial poll, he said intelli-gence agencies nevershared such informationwith him.

YSRCP, TRS to sweep RS polls in AP, TSContinued from front Page

If a party doesn't have suffi-cient numbers, it won't field itscandidate. However, if the gapbetween the strength of the rul-ing party and the oppositionparty in any Assembly is verythin, both the sides might fieldextra candidates to deny the

rivals a chance of grabbing a seat.So, if there are more contestantsthan the number of seats, pollingwould be held on March 26 andcounting will be held on thesame day and the resultsannounced immediately.

From Andhra Pradesh, fourRajya Sabha candidates - MAKhan, T Subbarami Reddy, K

Kesava Rao and Thota SitaRamalakshmi, are set to retire;and from Telangana, KVPRamachander Rao andGarikapati Mohan Rao will becompleting their term.

It will be smooth sailing forYSRCP and TRS in the RajyaSabha elections in AP andTelangana respectively.

In AP, the TDP has no chanceof fielding its candidates in placeof outgoing RS candidate SitaRamalakshmi; and so, all thefour seats will go to YSRCP.

In Telangana, too, the TRSwill grab both the RS seats, as theCongress or the BJP or theTDP lack the numbers in theAssembly.Travel

abroad? Makewill, be readyfor quarantineContinued from front Page

"Get travel insurance andmake sure that you have anup-to-date will, an enduringpower of attorney," CMAAOPresident said.

The doctor advised not totravel to countries with Level4 warnings like Wuhan,China.

"For Level 3 warnings —like India and Singapore —travel only if it is a must andminimise time spent in air-ports or leave the area if youfeel uneasy," Aggarwal said.

The deaths outside Chinawere recorded in Iran (12),South Korea (eight), Italy(seven), Japan (five), HongKong (two), France (one),Taiwan (one) and thePhilippines (one).

CAT suspendsIRS officer...Continued from front Page

The government took theaction against the 1990-batchIRS officer based on a prelim-inary report from the infra-structure department and laterentrusted the case to the CrimeInvestigation Department(CID) and Anti-CorruptionBureau (ACB). KrishnaKishore, who had been broughton deputation to AP by theNaidu government, was origi-nally working in the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes in thecapacity of additional com-missioner in the income taxdepartment in Hyderabadbefore 2014. He was among theofficers who assessed theincomes of YS JaganmohanReddy's Jagati Publications andlevied a hefty Rs 122.78 croretax in 2010.

Continued from front Page

ACP Mandeep SinghRandhawa was also questionedwhether action will be takenagainst BJP leader Kapil Mishra,who has been accused of insti-gating violence.

"All these things are underinvestigation. We will investi-gate and take action againstconspirators," he said, inresponse to the query.

Sources also said Shahrukh,who had fired a few rounds inthe air, after brandishing a gunat a policeman, has been arrest-ed. He said the situation wassuch as these areas are congest-ed and inhabited by mixedpopulation. "We are respondingto stray incidents of violence.

Sufficient force has beendeployed in northeast Delhi.RAF, SSB and CRPF have alsobeen deployed.

11 dead, 186 injured...

Continued from front Page

Continuing the verbal spar-ring, Trump said, "Letme tell you aboutyour record. Yourrecord is so badyou ought to beashamed ofyourself."

"I'm notashamed of any-thing and our organ-isation is not ashamed,"retorted Acosta.

The US president alsoaccused the CNN of having theworst record in broadcasting.

Acosta and Trump haveclashed numerous times inthe past.

The White House in2018 had suspended

Acosta's press passafter a heatedexchange during apresidential newsconference, barring

him from the WhiteHouse.The Trump adminis-

tration went on to suspendAcosta's White House pass, butit was reinstated by a judgeafter the network sued theWhite House.

TRUMP GETS INTO HEATEDEXCHANGE WITH CNN JOURNO

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy giving a memento to Regional Director ofSouth Asia Human Resources Branch of World Bank Sherbern Benz at the campoffice in Amaravati on Tuesday

HC orders CBIprobe againstGuntur Urban SP PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The High Court on Tuesdayordered a CBI probe againstGuntur urban SP Ramakrishnain the case of three youth whowent missing several monthsago. According to a habeascorpus writ filed by the kinwith the HC, the police inmufti picked up the youthfrom their homes on chargesof indulging in cricket betting.

Cases were registeredagainst them, but no arrest wasshown. There was no newsabout them even 15 days afterthe police picked them up.According to allegations, theyouths were lodged inChebrolu police station andtortured. The HC subsequent-ly ordered a judicial probe intothe incident and sought areport from the police depart-ment. However, the judicialprobe report and the reportsubmitted by the police depart-ment are apparently not sim-ilar. To unearth the facts, thecourt ordered CBI probeagainst the urban SP.

Top officials appointedfor distribution of pattasPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Stating that March 25 will be ared-letter day in the history ofAndhra Pradesh, ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy on Tuesday said thatUgadi celebrations for the eco-nomically backward in thestate would be extra joyous asthey will get house-site pattas.

Reviewing the progress ofSpandana programme here,the Chief Minister said whilereceiving grievances from thepeople accountability should bethe hallmark of the programmeand care should be taken toclear them within a week. Hesaid sending of alerts to thosewho submit grievances are amust to make the programmea success.

Alerting the officials thatonly a month remained forimplementation of the pattadistribution, Jagan said thegoal could be achieved only ifthe task was taken up on a war-footing. Along with the ChiefSecretary, he appointed secre-

taries of various departmentsto oversee the patta distribu-tion programme.

While Chief SecretaryNeelam Sawhney and PrincipalSecretary Praveen Prakash weretasked with overseeing theimplementation of the pro-gramme in East and WestGodavari, Krishna and Gunturdistricts, Chief Advisor AjayKallam was appointed to over-see Prakasam and Nellore dis-tricts. Secretary to the ChiefMinsiter Arokya Raj would beresponsible for Rayalaseemadistricts and his additional sec-retary, Dhanunjay Reddy willoversee North Andhra dis-tricts.

The Collectors were advisedto take the help of these officialsif needed, and complete processof land acquisition and mark-ing of plots by March 1. Thedemarcated plots should bedeveloped at the earliest andbeneficiaries decided on thebasis of a lottery. Collectorswere told to be liberal in allo-cation of plots.

Don't want to say anything...Youths attack Christianprocession in Vizag PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Tension prevailed for sometime in Vizag after a group ofunidentified youths, suspect-ed to be members of arightwing outfit, allegedlyhurled abuses and beat up agroup of Christians takingout a procession inVisalakshminagar area underArilova police station onTuesday morning.

Asirvadam, pastor of aPentecostal church, YeshuKristu Kripa Prachara Mandir,alleged that a group of six bike-borne youngsters approachedthem and shouted at the peo-ple participating in the rally,demanding that they disperse.

The pastor said that all the

six were carrying sticks andwhen told that it was peacefulrally spreading a good mes-sage, the youths got angry andattacked the procession withsticks. The pastor approachedthe commissioner of police toregister a complaint. The cops,meanwhile, are investigatingthe incident.

"We requested them toallow the procession as it wasnot against any particularcommunity, but they did notlisten and swung the lathiscausing minor injuries to somemembers,'' Asirvadam said.

He said that there were 70people in the procession,including 45 women and 10children. Fortunately, the chil-dren were not hurt.

Landless poorto get part...Continued from front Page

An extent of 87.02 acres ofland pooled under the LandPooling Scheme in theAmaravati capital region hasalready been utilised forhousing purpose for thepoor.

Following the requestsmade by the Collectors, theAPCRDA Commissionerrequested the governmentto issue suitable orders in thisregard.

In order to allocate thehouse sites to the beneficia-ries of above-mentionedareas in APCRDA limits, thestate government approvedthe modalities to be taken upexclusively underNavaratnalu-PedalandarikiIllu programme.

SITUATION OUT OF CONTROL...Continued from front Page However, before these officersswung into action, seven peoplehad already died and around 90had been injured. But even afterthe Delhi Police deployed morethan 30 companies, the situationcould not be controlled. At theGhaziabad-Seemapuri borderaround 3,000 people clashed,with the paramilitary forces andpolicemen trying to control thesituation.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A state banquet was hosted forUS President Donald Trump atthe majestic RashtrapatiBhavan on Tuesday night withits forecourt decked up to itsglory for the last engagementof his two-day visit to India.

The architectural marvel,spread over 130-hectares, waslit up for Trump and his wifeMelania were given a ceremo-nial welcome at the forecourt,which has a mixture of pinkand cream sandstones.

As the PresidentialBodyguards lined up on thestairs leading to the DurbarHall, Trump, who was receivedby President Ram Nath Kovindand his wife Savita, were takento the hall where the visitingdignitary took a round.

The banquet was attendedby Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, several of hisministerial colleagues, fourchief ministers -- SarbanandaSonowal (Assam), ManoharLal Khattar (Haryana), B SYediyurappa (Karnataka) andK Chandrashekar Rao(Telangana).

Chief Justice of India S A

Bobde, Chief of Defence StaffBipin Rawat, Wipro founderAzim Premji, banker KotakMahindra, musician A RRahman besides others alsoattended. Later, the Kovindand Trump, along with theirspouses posed for a picturebefore a 5th century statue ofGautam Buddha. It was fol-lowed byo f f i -

cial talks during which Kovindsaid importance of the Indo-USrelations could be gauged fromthe fact that a large number ofpeople came to welcome him.

"The US is a valued friendand India is deeply committedto the strategic partnershipbetween the two countries,"Kovind said in his openingremarks.

The US president said thelast two days have been "veryproductive".

Both the countries are work-ing for trade and militarydeals, Trump said.

He said coming to India hasalways been a learning experi-ence and thanked PresidentKovind for the hospitalityextended to him and hisentourage.

elaborate spread was laidout for the Trumps. The vege-tarian delicacies served includ-ed coriander shorba, aloo tikkiwith palak papdi, zarkhezzameen (seasonal vegetablecooked in its juice) and dalraisina.

The non-vegetarian fareincludes raan-ali-shaan (mar-inated lamb) and cajun spicedsalmon (pink salmon marinat-ed with cajun spices and roast-ed in clay oven).

For desserts, hazelnut applepie with salty caramel sauceand malpua rabri roll wereserved.

In his banquet speech,Trump said he had "tremen-dous two days" during whichlot of business was done.

PNS n NEW DELHI

US President DonaldTrump on Tuesday saidIndia and the US have

expanded their defence coop-eration with agreements forNew Delhi to purchase morethan USD 3 billion of advancedAmerican military equipment,including Apache and MH-60Romeo helicopters -- the finestin the world.

After extensive talks withPrime Minister NarendraModi during which strategicissues, including trade ties,counter-terror and energycooperation were discussed,Trump at a joint press meetwith Modi said they affirmedthe two countries' commit-ment to protect their citizensfrom radical Islamic terrorism.

"In this effort, the US is alsoworking productively withPakistan to confront terroristswho operate on its soil," Trumpsaid.

The US president said,"ear-lier, today we expanded ourdefence cooperation withagreements for India to pur-chase more than USD 3 billionof advanced American mili-tary equipment, includingApache and MH-60 Romeohelicopters -- the finest in the

world. These deals willenhance our joint defencecapabilities as our militariescontinue to train and operateside by side."

Another major focus of mydiscussions with PrimeMinister Modi was forgingbilateral economic relation-ships that is fair and reciprocal,he said.

"Our teams have madetremendous progress on acomprehensive trade agree-ment. I am optimistic thatwe can reach a deal thatwill be of greatimportance toboth countries.Since, I tookoffice USexports toIndia are upnearly 60 percent andexports of highq u a l i t yAmerican ener-gy have grown by500 per cent,"Trump said.

He said to fur-ther strengthen the econom-ic ties, the US is pleased toannounce that the US interna-tional development financecooperation will be establish-ing a permanent presence

right here."Together the Prime

Minister and I are working torevitalise the Quad initiativewith the US, India, Australia

and Japan," Trump said."As we deepen

o u r

partnership withIndia, we rememberthat our two countriesare united by sharedtraditions of democ-

racy and constitutions thatprotect freedom, individualrights and rule of law," the USpresidentsaid.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US President Donald Trump, at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi on Tuesday

India to buy ‘top’ militaryequipment worth $3bn

Following US First Lady MelaniaTrump, US President DonaldTrump's daughter Ivanka

on Tuesday went Indian withan Anita Dongre sherwanimade of silk from WestBengal.She wore a whitesherwani crafted fromhandwoven silk fromMurshidabad to attendthe US president'sceremonial welcome atRashtrapati Bhavan.Dongre said in astatement that thesherwani is timeless and aclassic. "We created this styletwenty years ago and it'samazing to see how beautifullyrelevant it is even today. A powerful,standout silhouette, a sherwanicarries the same charisma inabsolutely any colour but mypersonal favourites are theevergreen blue, white and black,"Dongre said. Melania, who onMonday paid homage to Indiantextile heritage by accessorisingher white Herve Pierre jumpsuitwith a green silk and goldenmetallic embroidered sashdiscovered by the designer in anearly 20th century textiledocument, donned a whiteshirt-dress by veteranVenezuelan fashion designerCarolina Herrera. She woreHerrera's bow-detailedembroidered cotton-silkdress and paired it with ared belt and white stilettoes.Herrera has been afavourite of almost all thefirst ladies of the US. Shehas also dressedJacqueline Lee KennedyOnassis, Laura Bush andMichelle Obama. Dongrehas previously dresseddignitaries such as Britishroyal Kate Middleton,Belgium's Queen Mathilde,Canada's first lady SophieGreogoire Trudeau andformer US secretary ofstate Hillary Clinton.

Melania Trump attends ‘Happiness Class' in Delhigovernment school, finds curriculum ‘inspiring’

PNS n NEW DELHI

US First Lady MelaniaTrump on Tuesday

attended a 'Happiness Class'at a south Delhi governmentschool and said she wasinspired by the curriculum,noting it has set a "healthyand positive" example foreducators.

Excited students dressedin traditional attire welco-med Melania as she arrivedat the Sarvodaya Co-Edu-cational Senior SecondarySchool in Moti Bagh.

The school was deckedup with floral garlandsand motifs to welcome theUS First Lady. Floral ran-golis were also drawn atmultiple places in theschool. A student bandwelcomed the FirstLady by playing bag-pipes.

She took a tour of theschool and visited a read-ing room as well as anactivity room for kinter-garden students. Shealso saw a yoga sessionand interacted withstudents.

Addressing the stu-

dents, Melania thanked theadministration for welcom-ing her.

"Thank you for welcom-ing me. This is my first visitto India. People here are sowelcoming and kind," shesaid. She said it is "veryinspiring" that studentsbegin their day by practisingmindfulness and connectingwith nature".

"A healthy, positive exam-

ple has been set for educatorsto ensure a promisingfuture," she said.

She was cheered by stu-dents who waved Indianand American flags and waspresented a handmade giftand Madhubani paintingsbefore she left.

Earlier, when she arrivedat the school, lensmen scur-ried to get a perfect shot. Thechildren welcomed the First

Lady by applying 'teeka' onher forehead. She was alsohanded over a bouquet afterwhich she lit the ceremoni-al lamp.

Before her arrival, chil-dren were seen rehearsingoutside the gate of the insti-tution. Massive security wasalso put in place for her visit.

Ahead of her arrival,Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal had tweeted to wel-

come her. "@FLOTUS will attend

happiness class in our schooltoday. Great day for ourteachers, students andDelhiites. For centuries,India has taught spiritualityto the world. Am happy thatshe will take back the msg of

happiness from our school,"Kejriwal said.

The children were dressedin bright-coloured sareesand traditional attire like'ghagra-choli' to welcomeMelania. Some of them werecarrying bagpipes and othermusical instruments.

US First Lady Melania Trump being presented Madhubani paintings bystudents during her visit to a government school in New Delhi.

US First Lady Melania Trump attends a meeting with children at the Sarvodaya Co-Education Senior SecondarySchool in Moti Bagh, in New Delhi. Melania attended a Happiness Class at the school.

Day-2: Ivanka wears‘sherwani’ designedby Anita Dongre

05

Shewore a white

sherwani crafted fromhandwoven silk from

Murshidabad to attend the USpresident's ceremonial welcomeat Rash-trapatiBhavan.

The gift PresidentTrump received afterTaj visit with Melania

In this effort, the US is alsoworking productively with

Pakistan to confrontterrorists who operate

on its soil

—DONALD TRUMPUS President

Rashtrapati Bhavan in all itsgrandeur hosts the Trumps

What kind of gift would impress President Donald Trump? ForVietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the answerwas: a gold-framed portrait of Donald Trump.

The State Department on Monday published a list of gifts thatforeign governments gave to Trump and other U.S. officials in2018. The report offers a snapshot of how Trump's peers curry hisfavor and a sometimes amusing account of how the U.S.government responds. France's Emmanuel Macron gave Trump aLouis Vuitton golf bag and some photographs valued together at$8,275. The mayor of Davos, Switzerland, gave him a hickory golfputter ($450). The portrait fromVietnam was valued at $3,100.

Trump and First Lady MelaniaTrump transferred everythingthey received to the NationalArchives, in keeping with U.S.law. The government treatssome gifts less kindly. TheSecret Service destroyed aclock that the Crown Princeof Bahrain gave to VicePresident Mike Pence,possibly out of concern itmight be a secretsurveillance device.

Several watches given toCIA agents will meet thesame fate.

Trump's daughter andson-in-law, Ivanka Trumpand Jared Kushner,purchased bracelets worth $3,185 from the Queen of

Jordan in order to keep them. It was the only gift IvankaTrump received, according to the report, while Kushnertransferred two other items to the archives. A WhiteHouse spokeswoman referred a request for comment to

the State Department, which didn't immediately respond.Trump's gifts also included black leather boots from formerAustralian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ($545); arectangular stone block, recognizing Jerusalem as the capitalof Israel, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ($600);sterling cuff links with a purple ruby from Italian PrimeMinister Giuseppe Conte ($465); a FIFA World Cup collector'sbox from Russian President Vladimir Putin ($1,500); a vase

from Chinese President Xi Jinping ($2,100) etc. On Monday, hewas given a framed picture of himself and the first lady at theTaj Mahal.

Trump'sdaughter and

son-in-law,Ivanka Trump

and JaredKushner,

purchasedbracelets

worth $3,185from theQueen of

Jordan in orderto keep them

(L-R) Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Savita Kovind and Ram Nath Kovind at theRashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday

For desserts, hazelnut apple pie withsalty caramel sauce and malpua rabriroll were served

On the first anniversary ofBalakot, which is today,challenges of managingcross-border air strikes areworth recalling. Prevention

of high-stake military action — initiationor retaliation — from escalation is thechallenge. Recent air, drone and missilestrikes in the subcontinent and West Asiademonstrate diminishing appetite for warand conflict. Whenever a conflictual inci-dent has occurred, the immediate aim hasbeen to de-escalate. Uri, Doklam, Balakotand the targetted assassination of IranianGeneral Qassem Soleimani demonstrat-ed marked preference for containmentand defusion rather than confrontationor escalation. A classic case of theabsence of escalation control occurredduring the 1965 Indo-Pakistan warwhere both sides played tit-for-tat.

Pakistan launched OperationGibraltar, attacking by infiltrating Jammu& Kashmir. India retaliated at Hajipir andKishanganga bulge in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK). Pakistan responded inChhamb-Jauriyan. Pressed against thewall in Chhamb, India called in itsIndian Air Force (IAF) and crossed theInternational Border (IB) in Sialkot andLahore sectors, taking the war into thePunjab plains. Rawalpindi had believedits war would be confined to Jammu &Kashmir.

Now compare India’s surgical strikesin Uri and Balakot with the US dronestrike against Soleimani. Language andvocabulary employed following theseincidents make it clear that both the ini-tiator and the responder aimed at de-esca-lation. Both the US and India have triedto alter the behaviour of Iran andPakistan respectively, making both endtheir use of terrorism as instruments ofState policy. In retaliation to the acts ofterrorism, neither has wanted escalationafter they initiated pre-emptive strikes oracted in anticipatory self-defence — a ter-minology used by India and the US.Although India’s air strike in Balakot wasin retaliation to the Pulwama suicideattack, it was presented as pre-emptiveaction to ward off imminent terroristattacks. The US drone strike on Soleimaniwas portrayed as revenge for earlierIranian attacks on American interests andits allies in the Gulf region as also to pre-vent future attacks. As India wanted noescalation, it stated upfront that airattacks targetted the terrorist bases andthat no further action was planned. Theread-out was similar to pre-emptiveattacks in 2016 against terrorist launchpads as reprisal for Uri. By completelydenying Indian attacks, Pakistan absolveditself of any response.

But in reaction to Balakot, where theIAF struck for the first time insidePakistan after the 1971 war and not in

PoK, a Pakistani retaliation wasinevitable. It came swiftly thenext day when a package of F-16scrossed the Line of Control(LoC) and dropped their payloadin Nowshera in a void, not onIndian military installations toobviate escalation. But Indianfighter jets scrambled, and in thedogfight, India claimed shootingdown of a F-16 while Pakistanshot down a MiG 21 Bison, tak-ing its pilot hostage. Contentwith retribution but intent on de-escalation, Pakistan agreed toreturn the pilot, though underUS pressure. Pakistan’sannouncement of the release ofthe pilot and India’s declarationthat there would be no responseto the Nowshera foray hastenedthe process of de-escalation .

Now compare Balakot withthe US drone strike that elimi-nated Soleimani. Washingtonexplained the operation as antic-ipatory self-defence. In order todeter wider conflict and asym-metric retaliation by Iran, the UScounselled proportionateresponse even as Tehran put abounty of $80 million on USPresident Donald Trump’s head.Iran’s Foreign Minister JavadZarif said: “The US’ act of inter-national terrorism targetting andassassinating Gen Soleimani isextremely dangerous and foolishescalation. The US bears respon-sibility for all the consequences

of its rogue adventurism.” Iran’ssupreme leader, AyatollahKhamenei, promised revenge,which came through 12 preci-sion-guided missile strikesagainst two US bases in Iraq,which were programmed tocause no harm to its soldiers andassets (like Pakistan bombing inNowshera) to minimise scope forescalation despite Trump’s high-octane warnings for reprisals.

Retribution delivered, Zarifsaid: “Action taken in self-defence under Article 51 of theUN Charter has been conclud-ed. We do not seek escalation orwar.” Like Pakistan’s retaliatorystrikes after Balakot caused noharm to India, Iranian missileswere sanitised to avoid escala-tion. Trump chose to step backand imposed only additionalsanctions on Iran. For con-sumption of domestic audience,the Pakistan Air Force claimedcausing huge damage inNowshera.

Similarly, Iran fed its peoplethe fake news that 80 US terror-ists had been killed in revengeattacks. At the same time, it wasable to demonstrate the impres-sive capability of its missiles,which were fired for the first timeoutside Iran in Iraq after theIran-Iraq war. Neither the US norIran targetted each other’s terri-tory. The US was deterred fromescalation by the threat of

stepped up asymmetric Iranianresponse against more than70,000 American troops in theregion scattered over US bases in10 allied countries.

While in India-Pakistan con-flicts the nuclear bomb was a fac-tor for deterrence, in the US-Iranfight it was not. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had claimed dur-ing an election rally after Balakotthat he had a couple of missilesready for launch in case theIndian pilot was not released.

Although both the groundand air strikes launched acrossthe LoC/IB were in the after-math of the terrorist attacks inUri and Pulwama in Jammu &Kashmir, New Delhi did notinvoke Article 51 and the rightto self-defence to retaliate.Instead, it utilised the principleof pre-emption to thwart immi-nent attacks in both cases.Arguably between pre-emptiveaction and anticipatory self-defence, the latter is moreacceptable in international law.

While the US invoked antic-ipatory self-defence in eliminat-ing Soleimani, Iran used the rightto self-defence in attackingAmerican bases. The problemarises while responding to non-State actors like India did inresponse to Jaish-e-Mohammedattacks in Uri and Pulwama. Itspecifically targetted terroristlaunch pads/training bases in

Pakistan, the country support-ing/sponsoring terrorist groupsand on whose soil they werelocated. The UN Charter coversonly armed attacks by one Stateagainst another State underArticle 51 that covers self-defenceprovision. In the US-Iran case,America attacked a terroristentity in a third country, Iraq,and Iran, too, responded in Iraq.

Restraint and de-escalationhave ensured that the imminentthreat of war in West Asia haspassed, though tensions remain.But another Pulwama or Uri willset alarm bells ringing again. Onassuming charge, Army chiefGen MM Naravane warnedPakistan of pre-emptive strikesto deter cross-border terrorism.For military action, pre-emptiveor in anticipatory self-defence tobe salutary, it has to be execut-ed periodically against terroristsbases like what the Israelis do:Mowing the grass in Gaza. Butcomparing Gaza withPoK/Pakistan will be wrong.Surgical air and ground strikes— even after the induction ofRafale — will not be the newnormal as they were made out bythe BJP during election rallies.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

An ominous situation has been allowed todevelop yet again in the national capital, ren-dering it unsafe, giving an impression of a

rage-filled India at a time when a presidential visitis under way. Delhi’s north-east is now the newbattleground over the pros and cons of a new cit-izenship law and in just three days, more than 10deaths have been reported, more than 100 havebeen injured and a reign of terror continues withincidents of stone-pelting, torching of vehicles andhouses. Democratic dissent is allowed and Delhihas shown how to keep it peaceful despite sit-ins.

The citizenship protesters, who began the stir over the imposed classification of iden-tities, were consistent in their single-mindedness to effect a change in civic discourse.Their resilience is no doubt politically uncomfortable but has inflammatory potential,too, one that is being encashed by the politics of the day and being swiftly turnedinto a communal war. Claims and counter-claims have been made about the protestsbeing manufactured but will the blame-game change anything on the ground or willit compel the Government to tamp down tension? One of the loudest messages fromthe Delhi Assembly elections, where the BJP suffered a severe jolt, was that Indianvoters reward those leaders who shun divisive politics. But the steep loss hasn’t forceda rethink in the BJP, which is now encouraging rabble-rousers to go all out in defend-ing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which is pivoted on exclusion against thespirit of the Constitution, and though not in isolation, but in tandem with other profil-ing-based census, could legitimise the politics of otherisation. So there was Kapil Mishra,whose anti-CAA statements and videos did the rounds during the Delhi Assemblyelections, egging on lumpens and encouraging hate rhetoric all over again. Such lead-ers have been so emboldened that they issued an ultimatum to the Delhi Police toclear the roads of anti-CAA protesters in the wake of Trump’s visit to India.

One expected the Delhi Police to recalibrate its approach in ensuring law and orderbut as has been the norm, it failed to restore calm. After a meeting with Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal, Union Home Minister Shah assured him of every help, sincepolice comes under his Ministry, but didn’t do anything to rein in flagrant party cadres.With a huge mandate, Kejriwal should not bother about his administrative powersbut must use the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) mohalla networks to address people’sconcerns. That’s what is needed exactly till, of course, the Supreme Court takes thefinal call on the CAA. One hopes the national mindset isn’t poisoned till then.

There may not be too many big takeaways fromthe visit of US President Donald Trump to Indiaas the trajectory of Indo-US relations has been

only going up despite regime changes with respec-tive heads of State striking up some sort of opti-cal chemistry. The civil nuclear deal began a newseason of engagement, one that has helped eachfill up the other’s strategic requirement. For the US,there’s our sizeable market and value as a bulwarkagainst a hegemonic China in the region. For India,that has meant de-hyphenation from Pakistan andthe US’ own narrowed down zoom of our neigh-

bour’s relevance in the strategic backyard of Afghanistan, humouring it within thatcontext. It has also meant US endorsement of the changed status of Kashmir. So thisvisit would have yielded as much had Trump or Modi not pushed Yeh Dosti visuals.The continuity of the Indo-US relations is no more in doubt. The greatest takeawaysare, therefore, for the two men who are bound by a similar personality, politics andideology, of justifying even autocracy and divisive excesses as putting their nationsfirst. To that extent, Trump has wisely chosen India to build up momentum for hiscampaign at home, besmirched by the impeachment move. He has simply used India’sdemographics and population to prove a US President has magnified his global pop-ularity. Hence the preoccupation with the scale of events and spectacles. Consideringthat he has yet to broker a worthwhile truce despite his global ambitions to be seenas a peacemaker or a big enough economic pact that justifies his protectionist poli-cies, the big defence deals with India will give him a talking point about generatingjobs back home. Apart from the billions that Indian companies will be investing inthe US energy market. For Modi, the ceremonial genuflection is intended for the samereason, to prove that his leadership has the endorsement of none other than the USPresident and that for all the opposition by both political parties and civil society athome, he has the US-sanctioned trust and a broader silence on Kashmir, no matterthe pyrrhic bursts of angst. Yes, there’s a subtext in the larger hyperboles of strongerties and comradeship, like the mention of India’s diversity as a democracy and Pakistan’sefforts at curbing terrorism, albeit at US insistence. Also, Trump renewed his willing-ness to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, leaving it up to Modi to decide.He even mentioned religious freedoms, saying a lookback would prove that India hadworked hard for religious freedom and that Modi wasn’t against it. That was a notso subtle hint about the historical timeline and the changed contemporary situation.And while he announced that India was all for Afghan peace, the Government wouldbe anxious about the Taliban’s role in the new regime, one that would be controlledby Pakistan and one it would use to extract some concessions from the US that isdependent on it. The US has definitely softened towards our neighbour of late. Andin insisting that the 5G network be used in a transparent and accountable mannerand not as a conduit of censorship, there was a hidden message for India, too, thoughthe target implied was China. Clearly, Trump doesn’t forget to remind us of our weak-nesses and his coercive strengths. There was a gentle heave, not a hard push though.

The economic partnership is a work in progress, and India won’t be as servileas the US expects it to be. Trump has been punishing on that front, taking us outfrom the Generalised System of Preferences List, saying India is no longer a “devel-oping” country. The tit-for-tat tariff war continues and although we have cut importduties on the Harley Davidson by about 50 per cent, Trump reiterated it again. TheUS also wants access to our dairy and medical devices market. Both are tricky forIndia, the former because we need to protect our status as the world’s largest milkproducer, the latter because of affordable prices of Indian variants. Still a workablemiddle path would come about ultimately. The big defence deals on acquisition ofApache and M-60 helicopters will not only up India’s defence shield but end our over-dependence on Russian products. The inter-military operability coupled with the US’upgradation of India in the Asian Pacific region — already defined by renaming thegeopolitical sphere as Indo-Pacific — shows that India is a strong ally in the US counter-weight efforts. Trump has also injected new energy in the Quad initiative by reiterat-ing his commitment to it. India has a tough job then in assuaging Russian anxieties,no matter how deep our one-to-one engagement, first because of the defence salesand second because of Russian discomfort over the re-classification of the Pacificregion. Of course, there is a commonality with the US of countering terrorism, withboth sides going to town over it. But Trump never forgot to publicise his authorshipin this project. Clearly, that’s a deal that no nation can negotiate on its terms.

What a blunder!

Sir — During his visit to India,US President Donald Trumphad to face some awkwardmoments as he mispronouncedseveral Indian words, especiallythe names of some of the Indiangreats. While addressing a crowdof more than 100,00 people at theMotera cricket stadium, he madea mention of two great cricketplayers in the world, SachinTendulkar and Virat Kohli, butstruggled to pronounce theirnames right. He called Sachin as“Soo-chin” and Virat Kohli as“Virot Kolee.” Agreed, there aremany names and indeed wordsthat are difficult to pronouncebut not these two surely.

Moreover, if a name is diffi-cult to pronounce, then a pre-apology, “I’m not sure if I amgoing to pronounce this correct-ly” is always a good option.Since it was obvious that Trumpwas reading the names syllable bysyllable, he should have apolo-gised later. If an Indian politicianhad introduced him as President“Tramp” instead, it would havebeen a diplomatic incident.

Dennis FitzgeraldAustralia

A healthy lifestyle

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Fatty Indians” (February25). The wide variety of region-

al and traditional cuisines avail-able in India has no parallel inthe world. But with it comes abig disclaimer: As Indians con-sume high amounts of junk andoily food, they tend to sacrifice

their health in the process. If aculture of food indulgence hasgained prominence in metrocities, it is due to the sedentarylifestyle people lead here. Yes,there has been a growing aware-

ness about health issues but westill have a long way to go.Overall, Indians need a changeof behaviour and lifestyle. Andthis should start right from theschools. Parents must givehealthy food to their children.Consumption of unhealthy fooditems results in obesity, diabetesand heart problems. In can-teens, sale of junk food must bebanned. The menu must includeidli, dhokla and lassi, which arehealthier and cheaper options.

Bal GovindNoida

Deal peacefully

Sir — With protests betweengroups supporting and opposingthe Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) becoming violent, theGovernment seems to be at a lossto find any solution. This willonly widen the divide further.Statements by leaders of variousparties have added fuel to the fire.Leaders must show restraint andsit together to remove misgivings.

SomyaVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 26, 2020

06

Door to diplomacy

ASHOK K MEHTA

As we celebrate the first anniversary of Balakot, one of the biggest challenges facing theIndian subcontinent and West Asia is of managing cross-border air strikes

Criticism of any institution isto be protected — the exec-utive, legislature, judiciary,and even the armed forces.There is no holy cow whenit comes to dissent.

Supreme Court judge—Justice Deepak Gupta

Being a mother has been themost important thing for me.All my awards on one sideand my children on the other.My entire career on one side, my kids on the other.

Actor—Karisma Kapoor

Instead of selling $3 billionin weapons to enrichRaytheon, Boeing andLockheed, the US should be partnering with India tofight climate change.

US Senator—Bernie Sanders

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Bridge the language divide

This refers to the article, “A day of martyrs” (February22) by Hiranmay Karlekar. Actually, the idea to cel-ebrate International Mother Language Day on

February 21 came from Bangladesh. This day marks theanniversary of the day when Bangladeshis fought for therecognition of Bangla in erstwhile west Pakistan. On thisday, the country honours the language martyrs who werekilled on the streets of Dhaka in 1952 while upholdingthe dignity of their mother tongue. Bangladesh's libera-tion against Pakistan's language imperialism has givenIndia many lessons. First, it refutes the two-nation the-ory of the likes of Veer Savarkar and MA Jinnah as itshows that language imposition cannot be swept underthe carpet of religious fraternity. Second, India's intentof not imposing Hindi as a national language is a stepin the right direction for the sake of the country's unityand integrity. All attempts to impose Hindi language mustbe refuted. Whereas language imposition resulted in thebifurcation of Pakistan, a liberal language policy helpedBelgium ensure peace and prosperity. Belgium beingsmaller than the size of Kerala, is liberal enough to recog-nise Flemish, French and German as official languageseven though German speakers constitute a small minor-ity of the population to effectively solve their internal strife.

Having solved its language problem, Belgium now

has an enviable position in the Human Development Index(HDI). Between 1990 and 2018, its HDI value increasedfrom 0.806 to 0.919, an increase of 13.9 per cent.Belgium's HDI value for 2018 stood at 0.919 — whichput the country in the very high human development cat-egory — positioning it at 17 out of 189 countries andterritories. India should learn from Belgium how peaceand prosperity are directly proportional to a liberal lan-guage policy. If we want to improve our rank in HDI, wehave to take corrective measures, including the adop-tion of a “pragmatic” rainbow language policy.

Sujit DeKolkata

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Delhi aflameThis is Gandhi, Nehru andPatel's India. Can any Indianaccept mindless violence?Congress appeals to the people of Delhi to maintaincommunal harmony.

Congress leader—Randeep Surjewala

There were no big takeaways except strategic convergence fromthe US President’s visit and light-footing on thorny issues

After peaceful protests, the violence over CAA showshow polarities have now been weaponised politically

Trump, the salesman

India must remain alert

WE HAVE GIVEN A THREE-DAY ULTIMATUM TO THEDELHI POLICE TO GET THE ROAD CLEARED. GET THE

JAFFRABAD AND CHAND BAGH ROAD CLEARED.—BJP LEADER

KAPIL MISHRA

THIS IS UNFORTUNATE. STRICT ACTION MUST BETAKEN — WHETHER FROM BJP, CONGRESS OR AAP.KAPIL MISHRA'S SPEECH IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. —BJP MP GAUTAM GAMBHIR

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Despite intensive lobbying by Islamabad andcosmetic measures to convince the FinancialAction Task Force (FATF) to take it off the

grey list in which it was placed in June 2018, the inter-national watchdog has once again placed Pakistanin the said list with a stern warning to be preparedto be placed in the blacklist if it does not completethe full action plan by June.

This was not the first time that Pakistan wasbeing named and clubbed with countries likeEthiopia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad andTobago, Tunisia and Yemen. It had been similarlyshamed in the past in 2008 and then again from 2012to 2015. In June 2018, Pakistan was given an actionplan, to be completed by October 2019, or face therisk of being blacklisted, the ultimate death knell forits shattered economy. The FATF’s reasoning isPakistan’s “structural deficiencies” in anti-moneylaundering (AML) activities and combating financ-ing of terrorism (CFT). However, Pakistan failed toimplement the action plan to be able to negotiatean exit from the grey list. At the same time it suc-cessfully averted being Blacklisted with the supportof China, Malaysia and Turkey and was given addi-tional time to comply.

To understand the charter of FATF and whyPakistan is on its target list, it is necessary to under-stand the terms money laundering and terror financ-ing. In simple terms, laundering pertains to disguis-ing cash earned from a crime as funds earnedthrough legitimate sources. The crime could be cor-ruption, drug trafficking, fake currency, fraud or taxevasion. Terrorist financing involves collection offunds to support acts of terror or terrorist organi-sations. The key difference between the two is that,in money laundering, the source of funds has to bea crime. In the financing of terrorism, money maycome from perfectly legitimate sources, such as dona-tions from citizens, but the purpose has to be acrime. Pakistan has been charged with both and isaccused of supporting terror groups like theHaqqani Network, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba. Hizbul Mujahideen and the Taliban.

However, Islamabad denies this and plays thevictim card. It quotes the Global Terrorism Index,2017 by the Institute of Economics and Peace thatranks Pakistan as the fifth country most affected byterrorism, after Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Syria.Pakistan’s leadership feels that its placement in thegrey list is far more political than financial. Nothingcan be farther from the truth since Islamabad’s roleas a fountainhead of terror has been exposed to theworld on numerous occasions. Pakistan today isknown the world over for not only producing glob-al terrorists but also harbouring, training and financ-ing various jihadi organisations, particularly thoseinvolved in cross-border terror against India andAfghanistan. Ever since its placement in the grey list,Pakistan has been seeing it as an attempt by the USAto put pressure on it to “do more” on issues relatedto terrorism, as had been openly demanded by theUS President Donald Trump. Pakistan is also con-vinced that if the US can have it placed on the greylist, it can also make it easy for it to exit the list, ifIslamabad is somehow able to contribute toAmerican interests in the region. While it has beenmaking cosmetic attempts to institute measures asper the plan of action suggested by the FATF, it hasbeen concentrating more on lobbying and diploma-cy to convince the US and other members throughit, to remove it from the list of “not so good guys.”

In the absence of any visible and concrete mea-sures to mend “structural deficiencies” in AML andCTF, it was widely believed that Pakistan would beblacklisted during its October 2019 plenary at theend of the 15-month notice. Due to its burgeoningdebt and shattered economy Pakistan could ill-afford

it. Pakistan was shocked when the FATFAsia-Pacific Group put it in the Blacklistin its meeting held in August 2019, whenits members found that the country wasnon-compliant on 32 out of 40 parame-ters. Islamabad put its diplomatic machin-ery in action to garner the crucial threevotes needed to prevent it from beingblacklisted. With China in the chair,Pakistan felt assured of one vote. However,after Beijing agreed to list Masood Azharas a global terrorist, it was widely believedthat it would behave more maturely. Butin the end China’s huge investment inPakistan and the strategic relationshipbetween the two nations tilted the balancein Islamabad’s favour. Ultimately, it suc-ceeded in garnering the necessary threevotes and continue in the grey list.Though it noted that Pakistan hadaddressed only five out of the 27 tasksgiven to it for AML and CTF, it askedIslamabad to act swiftly and complete thefull action plan by February.

Since terrorism is an instrument ofPakistan’s national policy and the realpower centre in the country is its Armywhich uses cross-border terrorism as partof its military strategy, it is well-nighimpossible for that country to divorce itselffrom terrorism. It once again doubled itslobbying and diplomatic efforts. PrimeMinister Imran Khan dashed to thefriendly member countries and the USAto garner support. This time it found theUS to be more amenable than before, sinceit needed Pakistan’s assistance inAfghanistan and Iran. With China and theUS on its side, Pakistan took a few mea-sures including the arrest of Hafiz Saeedand custody of Azhar Masood. It got a shotin the arm when, during its three-dayreview meeting held in Beijing in January,the FATF noted that Pakistan had takensatisfactory steps against terror groups. Itevaluated Islamabad’s compliance effortsin relation to AML and CTF as satisfac-tory. Member countries like the US, UK,Japan, Australia and New Zealand did notraise any concern this time. Pakistan’sgame plan of successful lobbying at the

cost of compliance was bearing fruit. Thelogic was simple. It was an election yearin the USA and Trump needed Pakistan’sassistance. This appeared to have shapedthe US’ stance to go soft on Pakistan dur-ing the February plenary in Paris. Itaccordingly convinced its allies andPakistan, which was at one time facing theprospect of being blacklisted at the end ofthe October plenary, now began dream-ing of an exit from the grey list also.

India, which knew the ground reali-ty well as it has been the worst sufferer ofPak-sponsored terrorism, includingmoney laundering and financing of theseparatist movement in Kashmir, got arude shock, as it was hoping that Pakistanwould definitely be blacklisted. Havingunderstood the US’ game plan, Indiabegan to act swiftly to minimise the dan-ger by ensuring that Pakistan did not getoff the grey list till its compliance was fullyconfirmed. New Delhi began to exert itsinfluence to ensure that Pakistan wasunable to garner the support of 15-16member nations needed to remove it fromthe grey list. It provided dossiers and suf-ficient evidence to the FATF of Pakistan’scontinued involvement in money launder-ing and terror financing. India was appre-hensive that any such decision by the anti-terror body would provide oxygen to ter-rorist groups, leading to increase in ter-rorist activities in Jammu and Kashmirand Punjab, where Pakistan is desperate-ly trying to revive militancy.

India keenly participated in the FATFplenary held in Paris which culminated onFebruary 21. In order to ease the pressureon itself from the anti-terror body,Pakistan sentenced Hafiz Saeed for twoterror crimes with the sentence to run con-currently a week before the plenary.While the US expressed satisfaction,India questioned Pakistan’s intent bypointing out the timing of the sentenceand the fact that it was subject to appealin the higher court. India also raised ques-tions about Azhar Masood, Lakhvi andDawood Ibrahim, who continue to enjoythe patronage of the Pakistani

Government and roam freely. India alsoexposed Pakistan’s lie that Azhar Masoodwas “missing” by providing evidence thathe was under Pakistan military’s safe cus-tody at Bhawalpur.

Another area of concern for NewDelhi was the fake Indian currency rack-et being run by Pakistan, as its prime inter-est is to promote espionage, destabilise theeconomy and finance terror. Hence, Indiacontinued to insist on complete compli-ance with the FATF action plan.

While Pakistan will aim to exit thegrey list at the earliest, India must contin-ue to press for total compliance. Despite,the FATF observing that Pakistan hadlargely addressed 14 of 27 action items,with varying levels of progress made onthe rest of the plan, it decided to keep iton the grey list till June.

India is certainly disappointed withthe outcome and Pakistan will take satis-faction from the fact that it has succeed-ed in avoiding being on the Blacklist. Butone thing is certain, its strategy of lobby-ing at the cost of action has suffered amajor setback and it has failed yet again.It will continue on the FATF grey list withits resultant repercussions. India can heavea sigh of relief for now since Pakistan isunlikely to openly support and promotecross-border terror as long as the swordof FATF continues to hang over its head.However it would continue to fuel unrestand back terrorism clandestinely.

India not only needs to keep its eyesand ears open but simultaneously up thediplomatic offensive against Pakistan toexpose it to the international communi-ty. The risk of being blacklisted in Junemay restrain Pakistan to some extent butthe prospect of continued support fromChina, Turkey and Malaysia along withtacit support from the US will encourageit to yet again depend more on lobbyingthan action. In the ultimate analysis, Indiawill have to sort out cross-border terrorfrom Pakistan on its own.

(The author is a military veteran, polit-ical commentator, columnist, security andstrategic analyst)

Though Pakistan is unlikely to openly promote cross-border terror as long as the sword ofFATF continues to hang over it, Islamabad would continue to back terrorism clandestinely

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Praise, notpunish Assange

GWYNNE DYER

We don’t always respond to the whistle-blowers’revelations as fast as they would hope. But they

are indispensable to keep the level of deceit down

ANIL GUPTA

INDIA NOT ONLYNEEDS TO KEEP ITS

EYES AND EARSOPEN BUT

SIMULTANEOUSLYUP THE

DIPLOMATICOFFENSIVE

AGAINST PAKISTANTO EXPOSE

IT TO THEINTERNATIONAL

COMMUNITY. THERISK OF BEINGBLACKLISTEDIN JUNE MAY

RESTRAINPAKISTAN TO SOME

EXTENT BUT THEPROSPECT OF

CONTINUEDSUPPORT FROMCHINA, TURKEYAND MALAYSIA

ALONG WITH TACITSUPPORT FROM

THE US WILLENCOURAGE IT TO

YET AGAIN DEPEND MORE ON

LOBBYING THANACTION. IN THE

ULTIMATEANALYSIS,

INDIA WILL HAVETO SORT OUT

CROSS-BORDERTERROR FROM

PAKISTAN ON ITS OWN

The cost of being a whistle-blower is going up in today’s world.When Daniel Ellsberg stole and published the Pentagon Papersin 1971, revealing the monstrous lies that the US Government

was telling the American public and the Congress about the VietnamWar, he was arrested for his disclosure. Later he was charged withconspiracy, espionage, theft of Government property and tried, butin the end the court set him free.

Then came Edward Snowden who released a vast trove of doc-uments from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 whenhe was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and subcon-tractor. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance pro-grams, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliancewith the cooperation of telecommunication companies andEuropean Governments and prompted a cultural discussion aboutnational security and individual privacy. When Snowden releasedthe documents he was already abroad, knowing that civil libertieshad taken a turn for the worse in the country since 1971. Snowdenis still abroad seven years later, living in Moscow, because hardlyanywhere else would be safe.

And Julian Assange, whose court hearing on a US extraditionrequest began on Monday at Woolwich Crown Court in east London,is facing 175 years in prison if Britain delivers him into Americanhands. The US authorities are really cross about his WikiLeaks dumpof confidential material in 2010 that detailed US misbehaviour inIraq and Afghanistan. Everybody knew or at least suspected thatterrible things were happening there, but without documentation therewas really nothing they could do about it. What Assange did wasgive them the evidence. The most striking piece of evidence wasa video and audio clip from an Apache helicopter gunship attack-ing civilians in Baghdad in 2007. The crew spray their targets withmachine-gun fire, making comments like, “It’s their fault for bring-ing their kids into battle” and “Oh yeah, look at those deadb*@#&*ds.” They even target people in a vehicle that stops tohelp the wounded.

As for the claims of the US authorities that Assange has “bloodon his hands” — as his 2010 data dump endangered the lives ofsome of those who were mentioned in the documents — there isnot a shred of evidence that this is so. If anyone had come to harmover the past nine years as a result of his actions, don’t you thinkthat the US Government would have trumpeted it to the skies?

The whistle-blowers are among our last remaining checks onthe contemptuous ease with which those who control informationseek to manipulate the rest of us. We don’t always respond to thewhistle-blowers’ revelations as fast and as strongly as they wouldhope but they are indispensable to keep the level of deceit down.They should be praised, not punished.

So what are the chances that Assange will escape extraditionto the US and a lifetime in prison? His lawyers will doubtless arguethat nobody was harmed as a result of his revelations (except per-haps their reputations for truthfulness) and that nobody profited bythem. A British court might look unfavourably on an extradition requestthat is brought out of sheer vindictiveness.

The story that US President Donald Trump contacted Assangethrough an intermediary, former Congressman Dana Rohrabacher,might also help. Trump was allegedly offering to pardon Assangeif the Australian would confirm that it wasn’t the Russians who gavehim the Hillary Clinton campaign emails he released during the 2016election campaign. This has all been denied by both Rohrabacherand the Trump White House, but in carefully phrased ways that leaveroom for suspicion. Trump’s recent denial that he doesn’t knowRohrabacher and never spoke to him is especially suspect, sincehe invited the man to the White House for a one-on-one meetingin April, 2017. British courts will not extradite if the request is polit-ically motivated. But Assange’s best chance probably lies elsewhere.During the seven years when he lived in Ecuador’s Embassy inLondon as a political asylum-seeker, a Spanish security companycalled UC Global installed cameras in every corner of Assange’sspace in the Embassy and live-streamed every contact and con-versation he had, including with his lawyers, directly to the CIA. Idon’t know how a British court will respond to that information, butI think I know how an American court would react. That’s how Ellsberggot off in 1971: The Government tapped his phone conversations(and sent burglars to break into his psychiatrist’s office and stealhis file), so the judge dismissed the case because the Government’sbehaviour was outrageous and no fair trial was possible. There willbe many appeals, both in the UK and maybe later in the US andAssange will not draw a free breath for a long time, if ever. But inthe meantime, here’s one happy ending.

Snowden couldn’t tell his girlfriend his plans before he left theUS and released his documents, because that would have madeher his accomplice. She was angry at first but she forgave him,married him in 2017 and lives with him in Russia now.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’.)

The Union Cabinet’s approvalof the Medical Termination ofPregnancy (Amendment) Bill,

2020, in January set the stage for asmall though belated step forward.Since this is only the second timethat the MTP Act is being amend-ed in its 49 years of existence, thenews managed to create quite abuzz. Initial reports suggested thatthe gestational limit for abortion hadbeen increased from 20 to 24 weeks,for all women, which was wel-comed by many. However, the fine

print reinforces the view that theincrease in gestational limit is onlyfor “special categories of women”(vulnerable women including sur-vivors of rape, victims of incest, dif-ferently-abled, minors and so on).The move to remove the upper ges-tation limit in cases of substantialfetal abnormalities is indeed wel-come, but it comes with a rider.Medical Boards — whose composi-tion, functions and other details willbe prescribed subsequently in Rulesunder the Act — will decide ifwomen can have an abortion on thisground. It moves the decision-making from the woman and herdoctor to a medical board compris-ing multiple members, thereby legit-imising third-party authorisation,which was never the intention of theoriginal MTP Act. Subjectingwomen to multiple medical check-ups and assessment by an unfamil-iar board in no way advances their

rights and surely does not seem tokeep their interests at the centre.

The MTP Act guaranteeswomen confidentiality, an aspectvalued greatly by women who seekabortion care. Under the Act, thename and other particulars of thewomen terminating a pregnancycan be shared only if ordered by thecourts. The Cabinet-approvedamendments include a clause, “thename and other particulars of awoman whose pregnancy has beenterminated shall not be revealed,except to a person authorised in anylaw for the time being in force.” Thiscould be problematic for manywomen, especially vulnerable ones.Over the years, we have seen barri-ers to abortion care increase due toconflation of the MTP Act with Pre-Conception and Pre-NatalDiagnostic Techniques Act andProtection of Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Act. The pro-

posed amendment could enableofficials implementing these twoActs and even the Drugs andCosmetics Act (which governs med-ical abortion drugs) to seek infor-mation on women seeking termina-tion of pregnancy from doctors andchemists, compromising client con-fidentiality and putting them at risk.

For any legislation or policy tobe hailed as landmark or progres-sive, it should benefit a vast major-ity of the target audience it is meantto serve or it should be expandingthe boundaries on the issue it seeksto address. The proposed amend-ments fail this test miserably. Forthe overwhelming majority of theestimated 15.6 million women (over99 per cent) who seek to terminatetheir pregnancy every year, theamendment does not change any-thing. Even for the small numberof women who will benefit, theamendments do not go far enough.

Many countries, both developed andunderdeveloped, including somein the subcontinent already have amuch liberal abortion law.

There are countries where ges-tational limits are higher or wherethere is no limit prescribed andabortion is a woman’s right. InIndia it is still a conditional right.The proposal requiring the opinionof just one provider up to 20 weeks’gestation is indeed useful for womenwho seek termination in the secondtrimester, as opposed to the currentrequirement of opinions of twoproviders.

To summarise, the proposedamendments addresses, to someextent, only the tip of the iceberg.For the vast majority of women whoneed to terminate a pregnancy, theamendments will not make any dif-ference. It is unlikely to make anydent in maternal mortality andmorbidity due to unsafe abortions.

Even when compared to the draftMTP Amendment Bill, 2014, devel-oped after wide ranging consultationwith a number of experts and stake-holders, the proposed amendmentsseem inadequate.

In its current form, the MTPAmendment Bill, 2020, cannot byany stretch of imagination betermed as progressive, women-cen-tric or advancing women’s rights andagency. The full draft of the Bill isyet to be circulated widely and hope-fully there are no more nasty sur-prises in store.

The intention of theGovernment seems to be right butthe execution seems to fall short.Hopefully some of the issues can beaddressed when the Rules under theAct are framed.

Given the advances in medicaltechnology, the current discourse onwomen’s rights and available evi-dence, it is an opportune time to

make the MTP Act truly women-centric. Women’s health and rightsin general and abortion in particu-lar, are increasingly under threatglobally. A great opportunity existsfor India to take a leadership role insetting the global agenda.

This would require theGovernment to review what is pro-posed and overhaul the amend-ments, so that a contemporaryMTP Act, which serves the needs ofwomen and advances their rights, istabled in the Parliament. If thisopportunity is not grabbed, we willbe failing 50 per cent of our popu-lation. Will Indian women have towait for another two decades toexercise full control over their bod-ies?

(The writer is CEO, Foundationfor Reproductive Health ServicesIndia and CAG Member-PratigyaCampaign for Gender Equality andSafe Abortion)

Are we truly advancing women’s rights?There are countries where gestational limits are higher or where there is no limit prescribed and abortion is a woman’s right. In India it is still a conditional

right. In its current form, the MTP Amendment Bill, 2020 cannot be termed as progressive or women-centric

VS CHANDRASHEKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 26, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 26, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

RSP Blast Furnace 5surpasses 15 mt ofhot metal productionBHUBANESWAR: BlastFurnace 5 of the RourkelaSteel Plant (RSP), one of thecountry's largest operatingblast furnaces, has surpasseda major milestone byproducing 15 million tonnes ofhot metal on Saturday. TheBlast Furnace-5 Durga of theRSP had started tapping ofhot metal in 2013. A RSPstatement said, the furnacehad surpassed 10 milliontonnes of hot metalproduction in March 2018 andfollowed it up by surpassingproduction of 14 milliontonnes of hot metal in October,2019. The RSP CEO, DipakChattaraj, has congratulatedthe employees of the blastfurnace and all otherassociated agencies onachieving this feat. P K Dash,ED (Works), visited BlastFurnace-5 on Monday andcongratulated the collective.

Hudco board toconsider raising up to Rs 28K cr NEW DELHI: State-ownedHousing and UrbanDevelopment Corporation(Hudco) on Tuesday said itsboard will meet this week toconsider raising up to Rs28,000 crore through issue ofbonds. The shares of Hudcowere trading at Rs 31.85 apiece on BSE, down 1.24 percent. "A meeting of board ofdirectors of the company isscheduled to be held on Fridaywherein the matter relating toraising of funds through issueof bonds/debentures(including tax-free bonds,capital gain bonds up to Rs28,000 crore will beconsidered," Hudco said in afiling to BSE. With anauthorised capital of Rs 2,500crore, as on date Hudco has apaid up equity of Rs 2,001.90crore, according to its website.

TVS stock plummetsover 6% on supplychain disruptionNEW DELHI: Shares of TVSMotor Company slumped over6 per cent after the firm saidthe supply chain disruptiondue to coronavirus outbreak inChina has affected 10 per centof its planned production forthis month. On the BSE, thestock lost 6.34 per cent to alow of Rs 409.75 in earlyhours of the trading session.Later, it was trading at Rs430.90, down 1.51 per centover previous close. On theNSE, it fell 6.64 per cent to hita low of Rs 409.45. Later, itwas trading lower by 1.76 percent to Rs 430.90. TheChennai-based company onMonday said the coronavirusoutbreak has impacted thesupply of certain componentsthereby affecting about 10 percent of its planned productionfor February.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Billionaire Gautam Adani'senergy and infrastructureconglomerate is consideringbidding to buy Air India andis poring over bid documentsbefore finalising a plan,sources said. The governmentis offering to sell its entireholding in the loss-makingcarrier along with its entireinterest in its low-cost armand 50 per cent in the groundhandling unit.

Sources withknowledge ofthe develop-ment saidthe mergersand acqui-s i t i o n( M & A )team ofA d a n iGroup isscrutinising AirIndia bid docu-ments and the interestwas at a preliminary stage.

Bidding, they insisted,would depend on the duediligence.

If Adani bids, it will joinlikes of Tata Group, Hindujas,IndiGo and New York-based

fund Interups who are said tobe considering putting in anexpression of interest (EoI) atthe close of the bid deadlinenext month.

Adani Group's spokesper-son could not be immediate-ly reached for comments.

Sources said Adani seessynergy in Air India and itsairport operations. It last yearwon bids to operate six air-ports at Ahmedabad,Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati,Thiruvanantha puram, andMangalore.

The deciding factor forAdani to bid for Air Indiawould be the debt and losses.

The buyer will have to take

on a fixed debt of Rs 23,286.5crore along with certain iden-tified current and non-currentliabilities. The airline has been

in losses during the last fewyears. While the privatiza-tion bid document does notplace any restriction on Adanifrom bidding for Air India,Airports Authority of India(AAI) restricts an airline or agroup owning an airline tohold no more than 27 per centin the airports.

A similar clause restrictingairlines or group owning air-lines from owning more than10 per cent in Delhi airportrecently resulted in the col-lapse of the Tata-GIC group'sinvestment in GMR.

Air India and its subsidiary,Air India Express own about120 aircraft at FY18-end and126 aircraft till Septemberlast year. After its unsuccess-ful bid to sell Air India in2018, the government thistime has decided to offload itsentire stake. In 2018, the gov-ernment had offered to sell its76 per cent stake in the airline.

Of the total debt of Rs60,074 crore as of March 31,2019, the buyer would berequired to absorb Rs 23,286.5crore, while the rest would betransferred to Air India AssetsHolding Ltd (AIAHL), thespecial purpose vehicle.

Adani mulls bidding for Air IndiaGOVT MAY EXTEND DEADLINENEW DELHI: The government is likely to extend the March 17 deadlinefor submitting bids to buy 100 per cent stake in Air India and theHome Minister led inter-ministerial panel will later this week decide onthe new date. Interested bidders can now have access to the "virtualdata room" of Air India, officials said adding that more queries areexpected to come in, which would be clarified by the TransactionAdvisor and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The government has alreadyextended the deadline for bidders to raise queries on the proposedstrategic sale of Air India to March 6 from February 11. Officials saidthat the ministerial panel on Air India would meet later this week anddecide on the new date for submission of Expression of Interest (EoI)by interested bidders. The interested bidders can now get access tothe virtual data room, which would also have the draft share purchaseagreement (SPA), by paying a non-refundable fees of Rs 1 crore. Theministerial panel - Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM)-is headed by Home Minister Amit Shah and comprises FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Railway Minister PiyushGoyal and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri as othermembers. The government on January 27 issued the PreliminaryInformation Memorandum (PIM) inviting EoI for sale of 100 per centstake in Air India. On February 21, it issued the first set of clarificationanswering queries regarding the 'confidentiality undertaking'. TheDepartment of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM),which is overseeing the strategic sale of Air India, clarified that bidderswill have the flexibility to change the structure of the consortium fromthe time of signing of non-disclosure pact for access to data room tillsubmission of EoI.

Sources with knowledge of thedevelopment said the mergersand acquisition (M&A) team ofAdani Group is scrutinising AirIndia bid documents and the

interest was at a preliminary stage

HUL shares gain nearly 3%on new firmPNS n NEW DELHI

Shares of Hindustan Unilever(HUL) were trading nearly 3per cent higher after the com-pany said its board hadapproved a new manufactur-ing subsidiary which is expect-ed to benefit from the new cor-porate tax rate. On the BSE,the stock opened at Rs2,216.15 and went on to gainas much as 2.84 per cent totouch a high of Rs 2,279. It wasquoting at Rs 2,249.60, up 1.52per cent, at 1150 hours.

Similarly, on the NSE, thescrip gained 2.91 per cent to Rs2,279.70. After shedding someearly gains, it was trading 1.55per cent higher at Rs 2,249.55.According to sources, HUL isincorporating the subsidiary toget the benefit of the new cor-porate tax rate, which hasbeen reduced to 15 per centfrom the previous 25 per centfor new manufacturing com-panies.

PNS n SINGAPORE

The Monetary PolicyCommittee (MPC) of theReserve Bank of India is like-ly to consider the develop-ments around COVID-19,which has resulted in supplychain disruptions from China,Singapore's DBS Bank said ina report on Tuesday.

The report titled "India:Growth and inflation targetingreview", Radhika Rao,Economist at DBS Bank notedthat the impact on India is feltthrough supply chain disrup-tions from China as well asregional players, who in turnare net importers from China.

"Temporary price increasesare likely to be accompaniedby production delays if the

pain spills over into 2Q20(April-June)," the report saidadding that "the MPC is alsolikely to consider develop-ments around COVID-19".

The coronavirus outbreak

has brought a large part of theworld's second-largest econo-my China to a standstill and itsimpact has been felt acrossindustries.

On January 30, the World

Health Organization (WHO)declared the coronavirus(COVID-19) outbreak a glob-al health emergency.

On economic growth, thereport said, the Indian econ-omy is in the midst of "bot-toming out" — to reach a low-est or worst point beforebeginning to rise or improve.

"For 4Q19, lead data hasbeen mixed, with our momen-tum indicator signalling amodest slowdown from quar-

ter before. We expect growthto stand at 4.4 per cent y-o-yfollowed by stabilisation in1Q20 and a gradual pick-up,thereafter, helped also by baseeffects," the report said.

Headline GDP growth hasslowed from 8 per cent y-o-yin June 2018 to 5 per cent inJune 2019 to 4.5 per cent inSeptember 2019.

"Sub-par growth numbersare likely to raise pressure onpolicymakers to act," the

report said. On the ReserveBank of India reviewing theretail inflation targetingframework, the report said "nosweeping changes are likely".

"With the inflation-target-ing framework being still rel-atively new, authorities arelikely to keep the broad con-tours unchanged to allow theframework to stabilise, ageand gain credibility," the reportnoted.

RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas has said that the ReserveBank of India is reviewing theretail inflation targetingframework behind monetarypolicy decision as well as itseffectiveness and also plans tohold stakeholders consulta-tions including with the gov-ernment in June.

RBI MPC may consider Covid 19 impact on Indian firmsThe coronavirus outbreak has brought alarge part of the world's second-largesteconomy China to a standstill and itsimpact has been felt across industries

PNS n NEW DELHI

Chinese tech major Xiaomi onTuesday said it will bringISRO's Indian RegionalNavigation Satellite System,NavIC technology to its smart-phones.

The capability has been cur-rently enabled by QualcommTechnologies Inc on several oftheir Qualcomm SnapdragonMobile Platforms and will bemade available across multipleXiaomi smartphones in India,a statement said.

NavIC — Navigation withIndian Constellation — is theregional geo-positioning sys-tem designed in India by ISROto provide accurate positioningin India and around the Indianmainland. It is considered to beat par with US-based GPS,Russia's Glonass and Galileodeveloped by Europe.

"In 2020, several Xiaomismartphones across multipleprice points will supportNavIC, initially supported bysome Snapdragon chipsets,"the statement said.

The implementation waspossible after R&D effortsfrom Xiaomi for softwarealong with ISRO andQualcomm's efforts, it added.

"Xiaomi has taken this stepto further extend its commit-

ment to Make in India, bybringing in technology devel-oped in India within its smart-phones," it said.

NavIC is designed to pro-vide accurate positioning inIndia and 1,500km aroundthe Indian mainland. The sys-tem comprises 7 satellites, 3 ofwhich are in geostationaryorbit over the Indian Oceanand 4 in geosynchronous orbit.NavIC is capable of providinglocation positioning accuracy

better than 20 metres. Some ofthe key consumer applicationsof NavIC for mobile includeprecise location mapping inremote, difficult to accessareas, precise timing, alongwith visual and voice naviga-tion for drivers among others,Xiaomi said.

"We are extremely proud ofthe sophisticated geo-posi-tioning tech which ISRO hasdevised, and even more proudto integrate it into severalXiaomi devices. We also thankour partner QualcommTechnologies for enabling sup-port in their chipsets as webring it first to the Redmismartphone this year," ManuJain, Global Vice President,Xiaomi and ManagingDirector, Xiaomi India said.

PNS n WASHINGTON

Online travel giant Expediawill cut 3,000 jobs worldwideafter what the company calleda "disappointing" performancein 2019, US media reportedMonday.

The firm, which operates itsflagship travel site as well asHotels.com, Hotwire,Travelocity, Cheaptickets,Egencia and CarRentals.com,said the decision was madeafter determining it had been"pursuing growth in anunhealthy and undisciplinedway," according to an emailsent to staff.

"I am confident that simpli-fying our business and clarify-ing our focus by making thesedifficult changes, our teamscan get back to working on theprojects and priorities thatmake the most sense for us,our customers and our part-ners," said Expedia chairmanBarry Diller in a statement toThe Seattle Times.

During a February 13 earn-

ings call, Diller called theorganization "bloated" andsaid many employees didn'tknow what "they were sup-posed to do during the day."Diller also said he was aimingfor savings of $300-500 millionin 2020. Over the course of2019, sales increased by eightpercent, net income by fourpercent and earnings per shareby six percent.

By the end of December, thecompany had 25,400 employ-ees around the globe. The jobcuts will eliminate about 12percent of the workforce.

But company leadershiprevealed that in the last quar-ter, net profit had gone downfour percent and earnings pershare had gone down onepercent.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Industry body ISMA onTuesday revised the country'ssugar production upward bytwo per cent to 26.5 milliontonnes for the ongoing 2019-20marketing year, much lowerthan last year but enough tomeet the local demand.

It may be noted that a seniorFood Ministry official onFebruary 24 had said the totalsugar output would be around27 million tonnes this year.

Indian Sugar MillsAssociation (ISMA) had inNovember last year peggedsugar production at 26 milliontonnes for the 2019-20 market-ing year (October toSeptember) considering fall insugarcane crop in key growing

states, compared with 33.16million tonnes during the2018-19 marketing year.

Already, about 17 milliontonnes of sugar has been man-ufactured by mills till February

15. Annual sugar consumptionin India, the world's secondlargest producer after Brazil, isabout 26 million tonnes.

Releasing the latest data,ISMA said: "Sugar production

during 2019-20 would beslightly more than what wasestimated in November 2019.ISMA has accordingly revisedits sugar production estimatesupwards from 26 milliontonnes to 26.5 million tonnesfor 2019-20.

The production estimate hasbeen revised after consideringreduction of sugar followinghigher production of ethanolby way of diversion of B-heavymolasses and sugarcane juice,it said in a statement.

According to the secondestimate, production in UttarPradesh, the country's largestsugar-producing state, is esti-mated to be 11.8 million tonnesthis year, almost similar towhat the state had produced in2018-19.

However, in Maharashtra,sugar production is estimatedto drop by almost 40 per centto around 6.2 million tonnes in2019-20 as against 10.72 mil-lion tonnes in 2018-19.

"Based on our analysis, weexpect higher yield from thebalance sugarcane available forharvesting which is mainly inareas which are high yieldingdistricts like Kolhapur, Satara,Sangli and Pune," ISMA said.

Similarly, in Karnataka,sugar production is estimatedto be around 3.3 million tonnesin 2019-20 from 4.43 milliontonnes in 2018-19 due to fall incane acreage by 21 per cent.According to ISMA, there hasnot been any major changes inthe other sugarcane growingstates of the country.

ISMA revises India's sugar output upward by 2%

PNS n HONG KONG

Asian markets were mixedTuesday as bargain-buyingafter the previous day'sbloodbath tempered fearsthat the coronavirus willdevelop into a pandemicand hammer the globaleconomy.

News at the weekend thatCOVID-19 was now spread-ing and claiming lives farbeyond China sparked aflood to safety on tradingfloors across the world, withthe Dow on Wall Street suffering its worst day in twoyears.

With the death toll ataround 2,700 and 80,000infected, the World HealthOrganization said the out-break had "peaked" in Chinabut warned that all countriesshould prepare for a "poten-tial pandemic".

"As the number ofCOVID-19 infections out-side of China rises, investorsare considering the potentialramification on the globaleconomy beyond weakergrowth in China and supplychain disruptions," JPMorgan AssetManagement's Tai Hui saidin a note.

Asian marketsmixed aftervirus-fuelledglobal bloodbath PNS n NEW DELHI

Market regulator Sebi onTuesday said foreign investorsfrom Mauritius will continueto be eligible for FPI registra-tion with increased monitoringas per international norms.

The announcement comesafter the tax haven was put onthe "grey list" of FinancialAction Task Force (FATF) -- aninter-governmental policymaking body that sets anti-money laundering standards.

A significant percentage offoreign portfolio investors(FPIs) investing in the Indianmarket is registered inMauritius.

The island nation is the sec-ond largest source after theUnited States from which for-eign portfolio investmentscome into the country.

As per January NSDL data,assets under custody of USFPIs are worth Rs 11,62,579crore and those from Mauritiusstood at Rs 4,36,745 crore.

Following the FATF notice,some fund managers knockedon Sebi's door overnight, rais-ing concerns over validity ofFPI registration done throughthe tax haven.

The regulator on Tuesdaysaid, "Foreign investors fromMauritius will continue to be

eligible for FPI registrationwith increased monitoring asper FATF norms".

For several years, there havebeen apprehensions aboutMauritius being a money laun-dering route for FPIs due to itslimited regulatory oversight.But, the Indian Ocean islandnation has been taking sever-al steps in recent years toaddress the concerns.

Jurisdictions under the "greylist" face increased monitoring.They work closely with FATF

to address strategic deficienciesin their regimes to countermoney laundering, terroristfinancing, and proliferationfinancing.

Currently, there are 18 juris-dictions identified as having"strategic deficiencies", includ-ing Mauritius and Pakistan, asper the FATF.

Equity benchmark BSESensex was trading 43.29points higher at 40,406.52,and the broader NSE Nifty wasup 10.10 points at 11,839.50.

Overseas investors fromMauritius eligible for FPI: Sebi

The island nation is the second largestsource after the United States fromwhich foreign portfolio investments come into the country

Travel giant Expedia tocut 3,000 jobs: report

IBM, NASSCOM MAKE 2500-PLUSSTUDENTS EMPLOYMENT-READY ?BANGALURU: IBM and NASSCOM Foundation on Tuesdayannounced the culmination of the first year of the New-collarEmployability Skills Programme under which more than 2,500students completed this IBM-certified course on emergingtechnologies of data science and cloud computing. These studentsare from 23 colleges across Karnataka, National Capital Region andHaryana, a joint statement said. This Corporate Social Responsibilityintervention by IBM engaged students through an on-campusapproach in a 204 hour- long blended training model that usesonline and face-face training immersions to build skills in datascience and cloud computing, it said.

ISRO's NavIC technology topower Xiaomi smartphones

e are living underthe sway of a fast-paced lifestyle andhave no time fordaily exercise,which also affects

the state of our mentalhealth, said Preet Gona, co-founder, Collective Fitness,and franchise holder of F45Training. “We help peoplebecome fit with just 45 min-utes of training every day,”said Sanjay Reddy, anotherco-founder.

Preet says, “Our everyday

training routine combineselements of high-intensityinterval training, circuittraining, and functional trai-ning. The variation in ourworkout programmes keepsour members challenged,eager to grow and ready forfun. Our curated cardioworkouts will use plyometricmovements, timing andtempo resulting in fat burni-ng, muscle building and me-tabolism-boosting sessions.”

Describing how their 45minutes of workout is moreeffective when compared toroutines at other fitness cen-tres, Sanjay Reddy says, “Thereason why people are notregular to exercise is becauseof the lack of motivation todo the same exercise againand again. We have morethan 3,000 exercises so thatthe same workout is neverrepeated. And when theworkout is done in groups itis even more interesting to bea part of.”

He adds, “Our body feelsthat if we do different exer-

cises every day it will behealthy. Doing the same kindof exercise every day narrowsdown the body’s ability toreach its full potential. Ourbody loves to explore newthings and our workouts area healthy and fun way to loseweight and stay fit.”

When asked about some ofthe dos and donts, Sanjaysays, “Fitness is not related toa particular exercise and itdepends on the individual.Hence, before suggesting anytechniques we assess theclients and their needs to rec-ommend suitable activities.”

About the eight-week F45challenge, Sanjay says, “F45challenge is a training pro-gramme focused on reachinga holistic state of well-being.The combination of F45’sstyle of training and nutri-tious meal plans is designedto help people transformtheir lives in eight weeks. Weguide our clients with properdiet and even give recipes tofollow to reduce their fat andlose weight.”

I come from a traditionalfamily in Warangal. For me,acting is like a job like any

other. I go for shooting everyday and come back homeafter its done. My mother

travels with me toshoots sometimes.

She has worked a lotfor me, making sure Ihave everything. They

are not botheredabout the rumoursabout me and have

always supported meYAMINI

TV ACTOR

W

‘OUR BODY LOVES TOEXPLORE NEW THINGS'

Fitness trainers Preet Gona andSanjay Reddy of F-45 fitness centrespeak on the importance of anexercise regimen complete withdifferent types of fitness activities tostay fit, reports V SATEESH REDDY

Indian dancers tobattle it out in Italy

ancers from Indiawill compete withthe world at thebiggest multi-genre dance com-petition, the

Dance World Cup, whosefinals will be held at thefamous Cinecitta Studios inItaly. The finals, which willbe held from June 27 to July4, will witness the participa-tion of over 6,000 childrenfrom across the world.Recently, dance talent fromacross the country demon-strated their prowess inrhythm through movementat the India Qualifiers inBangalore at the PhoenixMarket City.

The winning participantshave been qualified to repre-sent India at the DanceWorld Cup finals.

The director of the IndiaQualifiers team, Lourd Vijay,said that this year’s partici-pation saw the epitome ofhard work and remarkabletalent. “The competition getslarger each year and a con-siderable number of childrenand young adults recognise

that the Dance World Cup isan incredible opportunity torealise their dreams and gain

international recognition byperforming on the worldstage,” he said. — PNSD

‘Telugu families must encouragechildren to enter TV, cinema'

amini is a well-knownactress in the Telugutelevision industry,credit goes to the dif-ferent kinds of roles shehas donned in many

serials. Her claim to fame wasChinna Kodalu in 2011 which wasalso her debut into television.

Entry by accidentYamini said that she used to

attend western dance classes dur-ing her schooling and participatedin many dance events. She said,

“Since childhood my interest andfocus was always dance and Inever thought about acting intelevision serials. Many from thefamily and friends advised myparents to send me to actingbecause I am good looking. Like aregular Telugu family, my parentstoo had no idea about acting andthe industry. At that time, ZeeTelugu’s Anveshana toured theTelugu states to find new actingtalent. I attended the audition andwas selected. I did not see thatcoming.” She said that she got agood response for her role as

Radhika in Chinna Kodalu, somuch so that people now identifyher as Radhika off the sets too.

‘I resonate a lot with Bhumi’Yamini said that spending time

with her family is important toher and she does it whenever shegets free time. She added, “I loveto travel to my hometown,Warangal, whenever I can. I res-onate a lot with Bhumi, a charac-ter I play in the serial MutyalaMuggu. Bhumi is a village girlwho loves classical dance andkabaddi. She wanted to prove herworth and take care of her par-ents. In search of a better life, shecomes to the city without inform-ing her parents where she findsher soulmate. With the help of herpartner, she realises her dreams.Bhumi is an inspiring characterfor every girl and I loved beingher on TV.”

Challenging role After Mutyala Muggu, she acted

in Meenakshi, where her characterloses eyesight and her father in anaccident. About it she said, “Theserial is all about me takingrevenge on the people responsiblefor my father’s death. The twist isthat I marry the very guy respon-sible for the tragedy. It was chal-lenging role and I liked it.”

Need to support Telugupeople

She said that her family encour-aged her a lot to work in televi-sion. She said, “I come from a tra-ditional family in Warangal. Forme, acting is like a job like anyother. I go for shooting every dayand return home after its done.My mother travels with me forshoots sometimes. She has workeda lot for me, making sure I haveeverything I need. They are notbothered about the rumours inthe industry about me and havealways supported me.”

Telugu girl She said that for a long time

people didn’t believe that she isa Telugu girl. “Even my coactors did not believe mewhen I told them that mymother tongue is Telugu. Inmany serials the lead actorsand the character actors arefrom different states. I don’tknow the reason for this butwe need to support Telugupeople. Our families mustencourage their children to entertelevision and cinema,” she said.

Women-oriented roles When asked about her dream

roles, Yamini said, “I would like toact in roles like Anushka inArundhati. I want to do that kindof a role in serials too. I love to dowomen-oriented roles. I feel thatnegative roles have lot of scope for

acting but I prefer positive rolesbecause I want to be known forthat side of mine. I also love to doin roles which promote womenempowerment.”

‘Not interested in cinema’ “Whenever I meet people I feel

inspired in the way they remem-ber me. They speak to me aboutmy roles and ask about thatepisode or the other. They treat uslike their own. Even with all thatwe discuss they don’t pry into ourpersonal lives. At present, I’m notinterested in cinema and I love mytelevision career,” she said.

Lasting bond with people Referring to OTT (over the top)

platforms and their impact onother media, she said, “In myopinion, every platform has itsown viewers. But the good thingthat is happening now is thatthere are more places for talentedpeople to shine. These platformsare giving opportunitiesfor the budding actors.But business wise,every platform hasits own ups anddowns. Televisionserials are best forforming a lastingbond with peo-ple.”

Positives in negative

She is currentlydoing ThurpuPadamara with ZeeTelugu. She said,

“In this serial, I play Laya, aninnocent girl who sees the posi-tives in every negative. The serialis getting good reception from theaudience.”

Yamini added that she loves theHyderabadi culture and loves togo out with her friends regularly.On a concluding note, she saidthat she is interested in participat-ing in charitable activities whichshe is planning to do soon.

Speaking to V SATEESHREDDY, televisionactress Yaminishares about heraccidental entryinto television,characters thatinspire andchallenge her,dream roles, theimpact of OTT platformsand more

Y

out of the

BOX

WednesdayFebruary 26, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Wednesday February 26, 2020 what’s brewing?

ollywood starsScarlettJohansson andChris Evans arein talks to playpivotal roles in a

new big screen adaptation ofLittle Shop Of Horrors. Thefilm is a remake of the cultmovie-turned-Broadwaymusical, and is being direct-ed by Greg Berlanti.

Actor Taron Egerton isalso being considered for aleading role in the horrorcomedy while Billy Porterhas already been signed upfor a part, reports holly-woodreporter.com.

Little Shop Of Horrors isthe story of Seymour, ameek florist who works atthe aptly named Skid RowFlorists, where he is underthe thumb of the owner, Mr.Mushnik. Seymour secretlyloves Audrey, who alsoworks at the strugglingshop.

Seymour courts famewhen he discovers a plantthat looks like a venus fly-trap that he dubs Audrey II,but things become disas-trously complicated whenhe realises the plant has tobe fed human blood and,eventually, people.

Johansson and Egertonare in various stages of talksto play Audrey andSeymour. Porter will voicethe carnivorous plant. If hecomes on board, Evanswould play the dentist OrinScrivello, who is Audrey’sabusive and sadisticboyfriend and who findspleasure in his profession.

The project is based onthe 1960 Roger Cormanfilm that was adapted into apopular musical in the early1980s, which itself was alsoadapted as a 1986 film star-ring Rick Moranis.

If they come on board,The Little Shop Of Horrorswill mark a reunion forEvans with Johansson.Evans as Captain Americaand Johansson as BlackWidow have co-starred inmultiple Captain Americaand Avengers movies.

The Little Shop Of Horrorsis a Warner Bros. produc-tion.

Scarlett Johansson,Chris Evans in Little

Shop Of Horrors?

H

ohn Abraham on Tuesdayannounced his next pro-duction, a biographicaldrama film based on thelife of well-known socialentrepreneur Revathi Roy.

The actor-producer will back theproject through his banner JAEntertainment, alongside RobbieGrewal’s Red Ice Films and AnilBohra’s Vyka Entertainment.

Robbie, who previously workedwith John on 2019’s spy thrillerRAW, will helm the movie whichwill chronicle the story of Roy, whostarted India’s only last-mile deliverycompany that employs only womenas delivery agents.

“I am very happy that we are pro-ducing this very upbeat story thatcombines the best of entrepreneurialtwists with an extremely dramaticpersonal life. Revathi’s journey isthat of a vivacious, funny, full of life,spirited woman, who despite all oddshas risen like a phoenix and hasbeen continuously working towardsempowering underprivilegedwomen,” John said in a statement.

Robbie said it is an honour to be

able to tell the story of such an hero-ic and courageous woman.

“Revathi’s life is full of crests andtroughs and dramatic twists andturns. We usually see stories abouthow people rise from rags to riches;Revathi went from riches to rags to arevolution,” Robbie said.

The story of the film has beenadapted from the book Who isRevathi Roy by Swati Lodha.

Revathi said she is very happy thatJohn, Robbie and Anil have cometogether to tell a story, which shebelieves is not just her own but ofevery woman, who was given achance.

“Women are born fighters and anopportunity given to them nevergoes waste. All we need to provideis an ecosystem for them to flour-ish. In a small way, that is what myteam and I have done,” Revathi,who featured in the list of FortuneIndia’s most powerful women in2019, said.

Produced by JA Entertainment,Red Ice Films & VykaEntertainment, the film is currentlyin pre-production stage.

John Abraham toproduce biopicon Revathi RoyJ

Kajol tutorsAjay on how

to clickselfiesollywood actressKajol has been tutor-ing her actor-film-maker husband AjayDevgn on how toclick selfies!

Kajol on Tuesday morningtook to Instagram, where sheshared a photograph of her-self sitting on a stair case.According to the caption, itseemed that the actresswanted her hubby to fea-ture in the photo with her.

She captioned the image:“Me: Baby let’s take a selfiena... Hubby: Go sit there Iwill take it... Me: Selfiemeans both of us togetherand someone in the picclicks it. His answer:pointing finger.. laughemojis.”

Ajay shared the sameimage and said it washis version of a selfie.

“My version of theselfie is usually myselfbehind the camera,”he said.

B

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 26, 2020

PTI n WELLINGTON

Indian captain Virat Kohli hasexhorted his batsmen to shunultra-defensive approach heading

into the must-win second Test againstNew Zealand, saying it “never paysoff ” on overseas tours.

“I think the language we use as abatting unit, that has to be correct. Idon’t think being cautious or wary willhelp because you might stop playingyour shots,” Kohli said after the loss.

In the second innings, the tech-nically sound Cheteshwar Pujara con-sumed 81 balls for his 11 runs andHanuma Vihari made 15 off 79, as thebatting unit failed to generate anymomentum.

Pujara, at one point, went 28 ballswithout a run, forcing MayankAgarwal into playing loose shots andperish.

Not running the singles and wait-ing for a good ball that has “your wick-et” written all over it is unacceptableto the India skipper.

“You will start doubting that ifeven singles are not coming in thoseconditions, what will you do? You arejust waiting for when that good ballwill come and you will be dismissed.

“(If) you have that acceptance thatit’s ok if you are out to a good ball, atleast I don’t think that way,” said Kohli,making his stand clear on what hethought about the approach of someplayers.

The skipper, who is known to takethe attack back to the oppositioncamp, wants some of his batsmen tofollow his leads.

“If I see a situation, if it is a greenwicket, then I try to play counter-attacking cricket so that I can take theteam forward.

“If you don’t succeed, then youhave to accept that your thinking wascorrect, you tried but if it didn’t comeoff, fair enough. There is no harm inaccepting that.

“But I don’t think a cautiousapproach ever pays off, especially awayfrom home,” the skipper was clear inhis thought process.

He again stressed on the mentalaspect of Test cricket where clarity ofmind, at times, becomes more impor-tant than the technical nuances of bat-ting.

“If we start thinking too muchabout the conditions, then you won’tbe able to focus on your batting. Whenyou are not playing in your (home)conditions, the game becomes moremental.

“We can sometimes get into toomany technical discussions. But ifyour mind is clear, then any conditionlooks easy.

“Then it doesn't seem as if a lotis happening with the ball or that thebowling attack is tough. We will fol-low the same positive frame of mindwe have been in.

“We were not able to execute inthis game but when we do so, weknow what we can achieve,” the con-fident skipper said ahead of theChristchurch challenge.

AFP n DHAKA

Spinner Nayeem Hasanclaimed a match haul of nine

wickets as Bangladesh thrashedZimbabwe by an innings and106 runs inside four days in theone-off Test on Tuesday.

The big victory in Dhakaended a six-match losing streakfor the hosts and handed centu-rion Mominul Haque his firstwin as Test captain.

Zimbabwe, who trailed by295 after the first innings, wereall out for 189 in the second ses-sion with Nayeem returningfigures of 5-82.

Nayeem was supported byfellow spinner Taijul Hasan whotook four wickets as Zimbabwelost batsmen at regular intervalsafter resuming on nine for two,although skipper Craig Ervine(43) and Timycen Maruma (41)offered some resistance.

Mominul struck his first century as Test cap-tain with a 132 and put on 222 runs withMushfiqur to set the tone for his team’s dominance.

“Everyone did well, and I am happy for theteam. We tried to put up a big score and we wereable to get that,” said Mominul, who became cap-tain in November.

“I don’t think it is a difficult start to my cap-taincy career,” he added. “Yes, we have to win morematches but we will do better.”

Zimbabwe’s Ervine, who scored 107 in histeam’s first innings, said they did not capitalise afterwinning the toss and batting first.

“It was nice to get some runs in the game butit was one of those disappointing games that wehave to put behind us,” said Ervine.

“We probably just did not kick on from the startand we definitely needed more than 260 in the firstinnings.”

PTI n DHAKA

India skipper Virat Kohli was on Tuesdaynamed in the Asia XI squad, also featur-

ing Rishabh Pant and Mohammed Shami,to take on a World XI side in a two-matchT20 International series to celebrate thebirth centenary of Bangladesh founderSheikh Mujibur Rahman here.

Kohli has been named by theBangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for onematch subject to availability, which is yetto be confirmed by the BCCI. The two

matches are scheduled to be held onMarch 21 and 22.

“We have already received four namesfrom India,” Bangladesh Cricket BoardPresident Nazmul Hassan was quoted assaying by ‘ESPNCricinfo’.

“We haven’t signed contracts butRishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, ShikharDhawan and Mohammed Shami are sup-posed to come. They have said KL Rahuland Virat Kohli will play one game each, butthat hasn't been finalised,” he added.

BCB wants Kohli to be a part of boththe T20 Internationals but considering thehectic schedule of the Indian team, itremains to be seen if the maestro makeshimself available.

“Kohli’s name has been sent but the callon his participation lies with him and hewill take it after due consultation with BCCIPresident Sourav Ganguly,” a BCCI sourcetold PTI.

Asked about the Indian players’ avail-ability for the matches, BCCI presidentSourav Ganguly last Friday said they “cansend four to five players”.

Asia XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan,Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav,Mohammed Shami, Thisara Perera, LasithMalinga, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman,Mustafizur Rahman, Tamim Iqbal,Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, SandeepLamichhane, Mahmudullah.

World XI: Alex Hales, Chris Gayle, Fafdu Plessis, Nicholas Pooran, BrendanTaylor, Jonny Bairstow, Kieron Pollard,Sheldon Cottrell, Lungi Ngidi, Andrew Tye,Mitchell McClenaghan.

PTI nWELLINGTON

New Zealand coach GaryStead on Tuesday said he

was a bit surprised by India’sabject surrender in the first Testbut is expecting a strong come-back in Christchurch.

“It was a bit of a surprise butit was also due to the pressure weput on those guys for long peri-ods of time. You get Trent andTim to operate in our conditionsand both were outstanding,”Stead told reporters on Tuesday.

“Trent’s freshness after beingout for eight weeks added spark.”

The head coach also had asubtle warning for the Indianteam, saying touring New

Zealand could be as tough asplaying in some of the othercountries.

“We want teams to believethat it is as tough in NewZealand as it is playing anywhereelse in the world. That’s a pridething.”

Getting Ajinkya Rahanecheaply on the fourth morningwas the clincher for Stead.After that, he knew that NewZealand would wrap it upquickly.

“Guess picked up wickets atcritical times in the match. Wegot Rahane out and it was thecatalyst of the belief,” he said.

India captain Virat Kohlihad expressed a desire for his

batsmen to come out with apositive approach, and Steadfeels that a world class side likeIndia would like to dominatethe proceedings.

“I expect Indian batsmentrying to dominate more andthat will be a challenge for ourbowlers because a world classside like India will come backhard.”

Neil Wagner is back for thesecond Test after the birth ofhis first child and there is a pos-sibility that the home team willgo in with four specialist seam-ers in bowling friendly condi-tions at the Hagley Oval.

“That’s always good selec-tion dilemma to have as NeilWagner is coming back. KyleJamieson made most of hisdebut in the outstanding man-ner that he played. Neil will beback (in the eleven) with uswithout a doubt,” Stead said.

Asked if left-arm spinnerAjaz Patel will be droppedfrom the XI, Stead didn’t wantto spell it out in as manywords, even though that's animminent possibility.

“We will always considerthat (four seamers plus Colinde Grandhomme) as an optionafter looking at the wicket. Idon’t want to make assump-tions but yes, wicket at Hagley(Christchurch) has a wee bit init also.

PTI n RAJKOT

In a first, the DecisionReview System (DRS)

will be implemented inthe Ranji Trophy whenSaurashtra take on Gujaratin the semifinal of the pre-mier domestic competi-tion, starting here onSaturday.

The teams will begiven four referrals perinnings but the technolo-gy will not have Hawk Eyeand Ultra Edge, two keycomponents of the DRSused in internationalgames.

“First time in RanjiTrophy, Umpire DecisionReview System (DRS) isbeing introduced. Semi-final matches and finalmatch of Ranji Trophy2019-20 will have DRS sys-tem,” Saurashtra CricketAssociation stated in apress release on Tuesday.

Last week, BCCI’s gen-eral manager of cricketSaba Karim had said thelimited use of DRS wasalways planned for theRanji Trophy semifinalsand not from the knockoutstages.

The decision to intro-duce limited DRS wastaken after the umpires

committed a few howlersin some knockout games ofthe previous season.

The semifinal will beheld at the SCA Stadium inKhandheri.

“In each innings, eachteam shall be allowed tomake a maximum of fourplayer review. Where arequest for a player reviewresults in the original on-f ield decision beingreversed, then the PlayerReview shall be categorisedas successful and shall notcount towards the inningslimit,” the release stated.

Saurashtra CricketAssociation presidentJaydev Shah welcomed thedecision of having DRS inRanji trophy.

He stated that the RanjiTrophy along with VijayHazare and Syed MushtaqAli are the most importantevents in India’s domesticcalendar and DRS shouldbe use in at least the semi-finals and finals of thesetournaments.

This is Saurashtra'ssixth appearance in a Ranjisemi-final.

The other semi-final ofthe domestic champi-onship will be playedbetween Karnataka andBengal.

PTI n CHENNAI

Mahendra Singh Dhoniwill start training for his

much-anticipated return toaction in the Indian PremierLeague (IPL) from March 2amid never-ending specula-tion on his career, which hasbeen on hold since last year’sODI World Cup.

The talismanic ChennaiSuper Kings captain, who ledIndia to two world titles, willstart his training at the M AChidambaram Stadium alongwith some other players of thefranchise.

“Dhoni will train at the MA Chidambaram stadiumfrom March 2. He will prac-tice with players who areavailable at that time,” CSKCEO K S Viswanathan saidhere.

“The full camp will beginon 19 March when all theplayers would have joinedthe squad,” he added.

Dhoni is expected topractice for a couple of weekswith the likes of Suresh Rainaand Ambati Rayudu amongothers. He would then take abreak before returning, asource said.

AFP n CAPE TOWN

Australia’s SteveSmith and David

Warner will return toNewlands onWednesday, less thantwo years after theywere central figures inone of cricket's greatestscandals at the ground.

They will be play-ing in a series-decidingthird Twenty20 inter-national against SouthAfrica in front of anexpected capacitycrowd where “maxi-mum security” will bein operation to pre-vent any abuse of play-ers.

The day before thescandal broke, Warnerwas abused by a spec-tator in the members'stand at Newlands,leading to then-coachDarren Lehmann con-demning what he saidwas the worst person-al abuse of players theyhad encountered any-where in the world.

Don’t think being cautious will help us: Kohli

Virat Kohli walks, out for 19 to New Zealand's Trent Boult during the first cricket test AP

‘India’s batting was bit of surprisebut they will come hard’

Jasprit Bumrah, centre, celebrates the wicket of New Zealand's BJ Watling AP

Nayeem shines in B’desh’s big win

Nayeem Hasan celebrates after taking wicket ICC/Twitter

“We badly needed a win as a team. Wehaven’t played as a team in the last 5-6Tests. The bowlers set it up by dismissingthem for 260 and then the openers gave usa good start. When someone is set and isplaying a long innings it makes it easy forthe new batsman coming in.”

-MUSHFIQUR RAHIM

A first: DRS to beused in first semifinal

Kohli, Pant, Shami in Asia XI squad

Mohammed Shami celebrates with Virat Kohli PTI

Dhoni to start training

for IPL from March 2

Smith, Warner return to sceneof sandpaper scandal

OVERWHELMINGSUPPORT

Nearly two years on,Smith and Warner haveplayed in front of packedhouses in Johannesburgand Port Elizabeth in thefirst two matches of theseries without being sub-jected to undue abuse.

“We’ve been prettymuch overwhelmed bythe support we’ve hadfrom the fans,” Warnersaid.

"Port Elizabeth wasoutstanding. They werevery respectful. I didn’tcop anything (fielding)on the fence. The kidswere yelling out for auto-graphs and we obliged. Itwas a great atmosphere.

“Being back in CapeTown, it is one of themost picturesque groundsin the world, the ground'salways in good condition,we’ve had success here asa team and me as an indi-vidual. I'm chomping atthe bit to go out there andshare it with the rest of theguys,” said Warner.David Warner watches his shot during the 2nd T20 cricket match AP

Indian batsmen threw their handsat ball like they do in India: Craig

PTI n WELLINGTON

Former New Zealand all-rounder Craig McMillan

on Tuesday said Indian bats-men “throwing their handsat the ball like they do inIndia” will not work here.

“They didn’t make anyadjustments in the way theyplayed, they threw theirhands at the ball like they doin India,” he told RadioSport.

“When the ball doesn’tbounce above knee high youcan get away with some ofthose shots - in New Zealandyou don't.”

McMillan lauded NewZealand’s veteran seam-bowling duo of Tim Southeeand Trent Boult.

“When the ball’s swing-ing, and it did for most of

that Wellington Test, Boultand Southee are geniuses,” hesaid.

He rated it “a terrific per-formance” from the BlackCaps.

“I haven’t seen India,the number one Test side inthe world, dismantled likethey were over those fourdays in Wellington,” he said.

New Zealand’s drubbingof India was hailed as one ofthe best in Black Caps' his-tory by the media here.

“Rare are the Tests inwhich the Black Caps beatthe world’s number one Testside,” the New ZealandHerald wrote.

“To do so against a teamwho had won seven straightTests, each by a massivemargin, makes it even moreimpressive.”

“IF I SEE ASITUATION, IF IT ISA GREEN WICKET,

THEN I TRY TO PLAYCOUNTER-

ATTACKING CRICKETSO THAT I CANTAKE THE TEAM

FORWARD”

ctor Vishal, who had collaborated with directorMysskin for Thupparivalan 2 (Detective 2), had amajor fallout with the director, leading him totake over the directorial duties for the reminderof their latest film. According to reports emerg-ing from Chennai, the actor, who is also the

producer of the film, was visibly upset with the fact that thebudget has shot through the roof in the UK leg of filming,blaming it on the director’s poor planning in obtainingrequired permissions to shoot the film at varied locations.The shoot had to be halted for lack of permissions multipletimes. The unit returned to Chennai in December afterspending close to Rs 12 crore on production. Mysskin’s

demands for an additional budget met with a mutedresponse from Vishal, who felt allocating more money

wouldn’t be a safe business proposition. Reports haveit that a heated exchange took place between the

duo, with Mysskin later deciding to disassociatewith the project. The film will mark Vishal’s

debut as a director.In the film, debutante Ashya plays the

female lead while the rest of the castincludes Prasanna, Nassar, Rahman,Gautami and Suresh Chakravarthy.Maestro Ilaiyaraaja is the tunesmith.

eading productionhouse Geetha Artshas been a pioneerwhen it comes toemploying innova-tive strategies to

promote their films. Theybegan the trend of conductingpre-release events, which isnow a must for any film. Lastyear, with AlaVaikunthapuramlo, they’vereleased a song of the filmeven before the shoot was half-way through, helping the filmattract unprecedented buzz.Now, we hear that Dil Raju istaking a similar route withPink remake starring PawanKalyan. With the film set torelease on May 15, the pro-ducer wants the film toattract as many eyeballs as itcan. Composer Thaman tooindicated the same in atweet. Expressing his happi-ness over meeting PawanKalyan, he wrote, “What adream day met the person Iwanted to work and makemusic. I played him thesongs I composed. Felt sonervous and was sweatinglike anything in tension,love & pressure. Finally itwas all love & respect.We r coming soon withour #firstsingle. (sic)”

The film, co-starringNivetha Thomas,Anjali and Ananya, ispresently progress-ing at a set of acourt constructedat the AnnapurnaSeven Acres,Hyderabad.Scenes involvingPawan, PrakashRaj and the leadingladies are being filmedby director Venu Sreeram as of now.

ctor Nithiin, who is basking in the afterglow ofBheeshma, credited director Venky Kudumula forthe appreciation that his role is receiving. “If mycomedy timing and acting is being raved about, thecredit goes to Venky. He would show me how to goabout my scenes and I’ve simply copied him. I’ve

seen the amount of hard work he has put in for the film andthe highs and lows he has been throughout the journey of

the making. He has answered many people by delivering ahit. The film’s success was not just important for me butfor him as well,” the actor said. He was speaking at thefilm’s success meet in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

He added that Bheeshma is a special film in hiscareer. “I’ve finally delivered a hit after four years.

Sithara Entertainments is special to me. I’ve starredin their A… Aa, which was my biggest grosser

and now I’ve followed it up with Bheeshma. Ihope my next film with Sithara (Rang De!)

does well too,” he informed and addedthat his co-star Rashmika Mandannais the most hardworking actress thathe has ever worked with till now.

ot off the mon-strous success of hisSankranti releaseAlaVaikunthapuramlo,Allu Arjun will

finally join the sets of his nextwith Sukumar in Kerala onMarch 13. The director hasalready shot minor portions ofthe film with actors Shatru andJagadish (Gods of Dharmapurifame) in Athirappilly forestslate last year and he will initi-ate the new schedule from thesame location, it is understood.

A source close to the devel-opment tells us exclusivelythat, “Bunny is prepping forthe part right now as he needsto speak in Chittoor dialect.Sukumar has hired somedialect experts for the actor toget familiar with his character’saccent. After the Kerala sched-ule, the film will be shot inMaredumilli forests nearRajahmundry and later inTenkasi, Tamil Nadu, for over40 days. The forest cover, thewaterfalls, and the rivers inboth regions offered perfectlandscapes to set the film. He

has undertaken extensive reccealong with his team of assistantdirectors and writers to pickthe said locations. Anotherschedule will be filmed in spe-cially erected sets inHyderabad.”

The source further adds thatBrahmaji and KannadaKishore are the latest additionsto the supporting cast, whilediscussions with VijaySethupathi are going on for therole of an antagonist.“Sukumar is planning to wrapup the film by August-end ashe believes that the pre-pro-duction has been thorough andthere won’t be any delays.Production house MythriMovie Makers is looking at anOctober release date.”

An action-thriller,the yet-to-be-unti-tled film deals withred sanders smug-gling as its corepoint. The stylishstar’s part is shroudedin mystery while theleading lady RashmikaMandanna will beseen as a village belle.

Polish cinematographerMiroslaw Kuba Brozek, whohas earlier filmed Nani-starrer Gang Leader, isthe lens man, whileSukumar’s fre-quent collabo-rator Devi SriPrasad is onboard torendermusic.

Sukumar has left no stone unturned for AlluArjun's next. NAGARAJ GOUD writes about theteam's efforts to locate nature's beauty that willbring magic to the screen

Vijayawada Wednesday February 26, 2020

L

H

12

tollywoodPitch-perfect landscapes for

BUNNY'S NEXT

ANithiin ‘COPIED VENKY'

for Bheeshma

Ala…strategyfor Pinkremake

Mysskin quits, Vishal takes over

ith Bheeshma, VenkyKudumula has brokenthe second film jinxand proved he is herefor the long run. Nowonder he is one of

the most sought-after directors. However, sources tell us that

before anyone could sign him upnext, Vamsi and Pramod of UVCreations have paid him an

advance amount to make histhird project as a director for

them. A source reveals that, “UVhad its sights set on Kudumulaafter his maiden film Chalo butwith him leaning towards SRadha Krishna, Vamsi andPramod had to wait. Sometimeback last year, he gave his word toUV that he will do his third filmfor them. He rates the productionhouse high and the fact that theywouldn’t compromise on the

budget of the film acted like agood incentive for him to to sayyes to the project. With the pro-duction house also promising areputed star to spearhead thefilm, the director felt that half hisjob was done. His storyline hasbeen approved by UV but he willsit on it and flesh it out further inthe next four months, before tak-ing it to sets.”

VenkyKudumula

goes toUV

WU.V. CREATIONS HAD ITSSIGHTS SET ON VENKYKUDUMULA AFTER HISMAIDEN FILM CHALO

A

THE UK LEG OF SHOOTINGSHOOT HAD TO BE HALTEDMULTIPLE TIMES FOR LACKOF PERMISSIONS. THEUNIT RETURNED TOCHENNAI AFTER SPENDINGCLOSE TO RS 12 CRORE